Item 01: R. T. Vowles diary, 22 August 1915-23 February 1916 - Page 112
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[Page 112]
in swarms & pestered for "one penny master". Others dived for silver, many diving inadvertantly for pieces of tin & halfpennies covered with tinfoil . The result of such swindles brought forth torrents of abuse & bad language, which in its turn brought a hail of spuds on the diver.
The Cingalees or Senhalese as sometimes spelt are a dark chocolate colour naturally, but many are slightly lighter in colour. They are a lot of cravens at hear. They will not show fight & cower under threats. Begging & pestering becomes second nature to them & to them English money is their god, they beg, steal, & rob to get money.
They are very shrewd in dealing & unless one is very careful, he is the loser; They name absurd prices for trumpery articles that one would not stoop to pick up at other times. Their silk wares are good & their novelties many. Fruit, pineapples, bananas
([small sugars) cocoanuts & mangoes are dear to buy. Such a lot of their goods are swindles, that one has to be very careful in buying