The military and garrison would be sufficiently strong if the full number of Europeans allowed for this Commandement by the latest Batavian regulation of December 29, 1692, could be obtained, which could not be considered too strong for a Commandement numbering 608 men in all, including those for commercial, civil, judicial, ecclesiastical, naval, and military services. At present we have only the following number of persons in the Company's service, who have to be classified, as they are of different colour and descent, viz.:-- Europeans. Mestises. Toepasses. Total. In the Castle 287 56 7 350 In Manaar 52 2 9 63 In Hammenhiel 21 4 1 26 In Ponneryn 1 1 21 23 In the redoubts the "Pyl," "Beschutter," and "Elephant" 11 3 45 59 For various services, also in the Island, for surveying, wood felling, &c. 13 10 2 25 === === === === Total 385 76 85 546 In the number of Europeans is included, as stated above, all manner of Company's servants employed in the Trade, Church, Navigation, Military Duties, &c., all of which together number 385 men. The 76 mestises and the 85 toepasses will therefore have to be retained until this Commandement can have its full number of Europeans, and it would be well if Your Honours would continue to engage a few more toepasses when they offer themselves, because the Passes are hardly sufficiently guarded; about which matter communication has been made in our letter to Colombo of March 5, 1695. Your Honours must also keep in mind the recommendation of His Excellency van Mydregt in his letter of March 27, 1688, wherein he suggests that a close watch should be kept on the Wannias, as they are not to be trusted in a case of treason on the part of the Sinhalese; and on this account the advanced guards must be always well provided with ammunition and provisions, while discipline and drill must be well attended to, so that as far as lies in our power we may be prepared for emergencies. I have been rather prolix in treating of the fortifications and all that pertains thereto, not so much because I am ignorant of the fact that the Company's power in India depends more on her naval force than on her fortresses, but because I consider that since the latter are in our possession it is our duty to preserve them, as otherwise the large amount expended on them at the beginning of the Government in Ceylon would have been spent in vain.[56]