“Tamil:
எல்லாத் தாட்டோட்டும் குல்லாவுக்குள்ளே இருக்கிறது.”
“English Translation:
All the skill in steering centres in the out-rigger.Out-rigger boats or canoes are common on the south western coast of Ceylon. They are very swift and most safe. In 1848 when at Colombo duty called me daily to a large ship at the time out in the offing anchored in seven fathoms of water. On the occasion under notice I went on board in an ordinary Cingalese out-rigger canoe. In the evening after having completed the berths, for my two daughters who were going home for education, I betook myself to the boat, and soon after we got clear of the ship the boat was struck in the stern, filled, and went down. When I emerged from the waves I found myself near one of the two brackets of the out-rigger. The canoe was submerged but could not sink lower than the ends of the brackets tied to her side. The out-rigger at the other end of the brackets was floating on the surface of the sea, the canoe being suspended by it like a pair of scales from a beam. Aided by one of those brackets, which I pressed to my bosom, and a Chubb’s Palanquin box, I gained the rocks soon after sunset and escaped to land.”,