Sinhalese coolies from Matura of Laymastotte, Sri Lanka.
Sinhalese coolies from Matura of Laymastotte, Sri Lanka.
Coulis Cingalais
A group of Sinhalese coolies from Matura, employed on the coffee estate of Laymastotte. Laymastotte is an estate in Uva, Sri Lanka, located between Lemastota and Haputale Forest Reserve, and is also nearby to Lematota and Ranasinghagama. The estimate terrain elevation above seal level is 853 metres.
Coolies were mainly Chinese and South Asian unskilled labourers in the 19th century and early 20th century who worked for a company as contract workers or day labourers. They were mainly employed on plantations, in coal mines, as porters or for other low-paid physical labour.
The word Kuli or Coolie has survived in various countries as a term for luggage trolleys (Kofferkuli) at railway stations. It can be used in a derogatory sense when referring to people.
Source: Sketches of the inhabitants, animal life and vegetation in the lowlands and high mountains of Ceylon as well as of the submarine near the coast, taken in a diving bell, by the Baron Eugène de Ransonnet. Printed for the author by Gerold & sold by Robert Hardwicke London 192, Piccadilly. 1867.
