Along the road-side, under little roofs of palm-leaves, were placed
large earthen vessels filled with water, and near them cocoa-nut
shells to drink out of. Another measure for the accommodation of
travellers, which is no less worthy of praise, consists in the
establishment of little stone buildings, roofed in, but open at the
sides, and furnished with benches. In these buildings many
wayfarers often pass the night.
The number of people and vehicles that we met made the journey
appear to me very short. There were specimens of all the various
races which compose the population of Ceylon. The Cingalese,
properly so called, are the most numerous, but, besides these, there
are Indians, Mahomedans, Malays, natives of Malabar, Jews, Moors,
and even Hottentots. I saw numerous instances of handsome and
agreeable physiognomies among those of the first three races; the
Cingalese youths and boys, in particular, are remarkably handsome.
They possess mild, well-formed features, and are so slim and finely
built, that they might easily be mistaken for girls; an error into
which it is the more easy to fall from their manner of dressing
their hair.
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