relating to cash, transactions, not less than
such as bore reference to property. The
Cingalese looked at his counsel very hard,
with a peculiar expression of deep
cunning stealing over his sable countenance.
He drew his chair somewhat nearer to him,
and glancing cautiously round the room to
ascertain if any one was within, ear-shot, told
him in a low half-whisper that he "had
never paid the money." The Advocate, as
may easily be imagined, was astounded at this
admission; although from his long acquaintance
with the native character he was generally
prepared to hear a good deal of rascality and
duplicity. He begged his client to explain
what he meant; how he came by the
discharge which the plaintiff had not attempted
to disprove or set aside, if, as he said, he had
not paid the money.

The late defendant drew still more
confidently near to his counsel's seat, and looking
him steadily in the face as if to watch the
effect his communication would have on him,
he whispered in his ear that he had not only
never paid plaintiff the money in dispute, but
that he had never owed him the amount, nor
any sum of money whatever! This was a
fearful staggerer to the Englishman, who
looked all sorts of questions at his client.
The latter perceiving that his riddle was
not likely to be solved without his own
assistance, condescended to detail every
particular relating to the recent suit. He had
been on bad terms, he said, with the plaintiff,
who was a neighbour, for some months past,
owing to his having obtained a judgment
against the latter in a trifling land case. The
plaintiff had been heard to say, that he would
one day be revenged on him, and as the
Cingalese are tolerably true to their word in all
these matters, the attempt was expected. The
revenge taken was to forge a bond from the
defendant to plaintiff for such an amount as
must have effectually ruined the former; the
deed was well drawn up, properly attested,
and duly witnessed by men who, for a rupee
a head, were in Court for the purpose, and
actually did swear to the genuineness of
defendant's signature The man would
assuredly have been ruined as was intended, but
that he happened to be as clever a rogue and
as unscrupulous as his adversary. He had
heard the old proverb about sharp instruments
cutting two ways, and acted upon it,
for he concocted a forged discharge to the
forged bond, signed by twice as many
witnesses as the bond itself, and some of
whom were the same parties who professed to
have witnessed the execution of the latter,
and who, for a little higher bribing, came into
Court to swear by the sacred Tooth of
Buddhoo, that they had seen the plaintiff
sign and deliver the discharge! The Advocate
went home that day a wiser man, by a
great deal, than when he entered his little
office in the morning, and deeply impressed
with the difficulties flung round the path of
justice by the crookedness of the native
character.

Having related the denouement of the above
little plot, I must terminate my day at the
Colombo Courts. After the decision of the
case just alluded to, I bent my steps back to
the Supreme Court, which was at that
moment in a state of intense commotion. It
was evident that something of great interest
had happened, for every tongue was in action,
every bare arm was flung about, as though
there had been a general attack of St. Vitus's
dance amongst the native population. Great
white eyes glared fiercely on their neighbours
black hair streamed over excitable, oleaginous
shoulders; muslin turbans and snow-
white scarves danced about, and blended
madly with Turkey-red cloths and chintz
sarougo; bloodthirsty-looking mustachios
curled to their uttermost tips in rank defiance,
while tobacco and betel-juice flew about in
copious showers, and much nearer to me than
I could have desired. What did it all mean?
Was the poor wretch of a traitor, self-
condemmed as he had been, about to suffer the
extreme penalty of the law, then and there, on the
spot, just to give Dame Justice an appetite for
her afternoon meal! I ventured to question a
respectable-looking man by my side, in clean,
white raiment; but the poor creature muttered
something that might have been Ethiopic or
Sclavonic. I tried a thin weazen-faced old
man in spectacles and cloth garments, and the
wretch replied in high Dutch!

Forcing my way into the body of the
Court, I at length ascertained from a half-
caste proctor, that although the prisoner had
pleaded guilty, and the evidence and the
summing-up of the Judge were dead against
him, the jury had acquitted the man. They
knew far better than he did whether he was
or was not guilty, and in their wisdom had
decided that he was mistaken in his
self-condemnation. The prisoner—the prisoner
no longer—could not be persuaded that he
heard aright; when I reached the thronged
table facing the dock, I found him staring
vacantly about him, with his long, bony
hands clasped firmly together; the person in
charge of him in vain tried to move him
from the spot. The judges were conversing
together in deep ernest whispers evidently
as asthonished as the poor creatur they had
just been trying; after a brief time they
dismissed the jury, having probably had
sufficient of their labour for that day, and for
many days to come; and eventually the Court
rose and adjourned over until the following
morning, to allow themselves time to digest
their astonishment.

As I drove home from witnessing these
strange scenes, I could not resist pondering
upon the crooked ways of Orientals—upon the
dim moral perceptions of our fellow-subjects
in the East. I called to mind the hackneyed
Exeter Hall phrase of "We are all brethren,"
and thought how much better for the true