Note 4 — Memoir

The Wanni is the largest division in this kingdom, and would also be the most profitable to the Company if matters went on as they ought to. It is from there that we have to obtain the elephants which are sold here at considerable profit, as the proceeds of the sale of elephants which are sent here for sale from Galle, Matura, and other places in Ceylon cannot be credited to this Commandement, as the profits are not retained here, but have been so far forwarded to these places. With a view to secure the profits on the elephants which are to be obtained from the Wanni, the Company has divided this large forest and extensive territory into several Provinces, which have been farmed out to Majoraals, known as Wannias, on the condition that they should deliver yearly 42½ alias.4 This practice was followed from the time that the Company first established itself here up to the present day, but the results have proved that these Wannias continually fail to deliver the tribute elephants, and it appears in the Instructions of the late Mr. Paviljoen that their arrears in his time were already 74½ alias, when the Company had possessed this territory only 7 or 8 years. In the returns for 1680 it will be seen that these arrears had then increased to 313 alias. The whole of this debt was remitted to them, but in 1694 again the arrears went up to 18½ alias, and last year they had come up to 70 animals, namely: