A new society—a product of East and…

A new society—a product of East and West—had begun to emerge in Ceylon by the nineteenth century.

It is a society with strict rules separating the rulers from the ruled, and most social association between the British and Sri Lankans are taboo.

The British community is largely a microcosm of English society with all its class divisions.

At the top of the social pyramid are the British officials of the Ceylon Civil Service.

Elaborate social conventions regulate the conduct of the service's members and serve to distinguish them as an exclusive caste.

This situation, however, changes slowly in the latter part of the nineteenth century and will change quite rapidly in the next century.