The inhabitants of this territory, who are really a perverse race, are far too numerous to be maintained by the produce of this Commandement. This had been expected at the beginning of the Company's rule, when the late Commandeur, Anthony Paviljoen, stated in his Instructions that there were about 120,000 subjects. How much worse must this be now, when, as shown by the last Census, there were of the people known alone, 169,299 subjects here and in Manaar. I think there would be far more if all those who hide themselves in order to escape from taxes and servitude be included. All these inhabitants are divided into 40 different castes, which are described in the Thombo, so that I will not name them here, as this would involve too much prolixity, especially if I should state what kind of services, impositions, &c., each one is liable to. All this I imagine to be well known to Your Honours; because the late Mr. Blom had given a detailed and accurate account of these matters in his report of August 20, 1692, and I could only re-write what has been already described by others; I therefore refer to the said manuscript, where, besides this subject, much information may be found with regard to other matters concerning Jaffnapatam. In the same document is also found a comparison between the revenue of the Commandement, with the taxes and duty it has to render to the Company, in the payment of which it has been greatly met by the Honourable the Supreme Government of India as will be shown below. In order to prevent any misapprehension during my absence, I will state here the amount of the income of the Company during the last year, viz., from September 1, 1695, to the end of August, 1696, inclusive, viz.:-- Rds. Rent from lands, trees, and gardens 16,348. 3.4 3/4 Tithes 8,632. 7.3 3/4 Poll tax 5,998. 1.0 Officie 865. 2.0 Adigary 1,178. 3.0 1/2 Total 33,020.10.2 Revenue of Manaar 879.10.2 =============== 33,900. 9.0 [16] From this amount of Rds. 33,020.10.2 the following expenditure must be deducted, viz.:-- Rds. Payment of 216 Majoraals at Rds. 2 each 432. 0.0 Payment of 218 Cayaals at Rd. 1 each 218. 0.0 Payment of 8 tax collectors 320. 3.7 3/4 Payment of 8 Sarraafs [17] or Accountants 32. 3.0 1/2 For elephants delivered in lieu of poll tax and land rent by the tamekares to the value of 373. 4.0 1/2 ============== Total 1,375. 8.1 1/4 [18]