y much abuse, of which
the following abominable custom is a strong instance. When any man
marries, he is prohibited from bedding with his wife the first night,
which function is performed in his stead by one of the bramins, or, if
none of these be at hand, by some other man. Foreigners used formerly
to be often employed on these occasions, as the Malabars made choice
of them instead of their own countrymen, often making large presents
to the substitutes, sometimes to the value of forty or fifty pounds.
But of late the bramins have become so very religious, that they
never fail to execute this duty themselves. Besides this, the bramins
frequent the company of the women so much, that no one of their
religion can pretend to know his own father with any certainty. For
which reason, by the laws of this country, sons or daughters never
inherit from the husbands of their mothers, but the heritage always
goes, to nephews and nieces, by sisters of the deceased born of the
same mother, as certainly of his blood. This rule is observed also
in the order of succession in their royal families, and is a glaring
proof of the strange effects of boundless superstition.[4]

[Footnote 4: This strange custom has been differently related
formerly, and we believe more accurately, as prevalent only in the
Nayra tribe, in which the women are allowed several husbands at the
same time, and may change them at pleasure.--E.]

The next commandery is _Gallo_, or Point de Galle, on the island of
Ceylon, at the distance of about twenty leagues from Columbo, the
Dutch capital of that island. Gallo was the first place in Ceylon
taken from the Portuguese by the Dutch, and still is a place of
considerable trade. The commander at this place is entirely
dependent upon the governor of Ceylon, and can do nothing without his
approbation. About the year 1672, Lewis XIV. sent out a squadron of
eight frigates, with orders to make themselves master of this place,
this project having been proposed to the court of France by one
Mynheer Jan Martin, who had served the Dutch East India Company for
many years, and had quitted their service on some disgust. When
the royal orders came to be opened at sea, Martin found that the
government was to be vested in another person, in case the place were
taken, on which he took such measures as frustrated the object of the
expedition. Mynheer van Cosse, who then commanded the Dutch fleet,
soon arrived on the coast, and the French