THE VEDDAHS. 437 



Ceylon, have been described by Knox,* TennemVf- and Bailey. J 

 They live in huts very rudely formed of boughs and bark, 

 and cultivate small patches of chena, but subsist principally 

 on honey and the produce of the chase. Their weapons con- 

 sist of axes and bows and arrows. With the latter they are 

 not very skilful, as they pursue only the larger game, and 

 the art of hunting consists in creeping close up to their prey 

 and taking it unawares. They are very good deer-stalkers, 

 and, besides excellent dogs, have also hunting buffaloes. These 

 are so trained that they are easily guided by a string tied 

 round the horn, and are used at night. The buffalo feeds, the 

 man crouches behind him, and thus, unseen and unsuspected, 

 steals upon his prey. 



They have no pottery, and their cookery is very primitive. 

 They wear scarcely any clothes, nothing in fact but a scrap 

 of dirty rag, supported in front by a string tied round the 

 waist. Perhaps the women's cloth is a trifle larger than the 

 men's, but that appears to be the only difference. They are 

 very dirty, and very small; the ordinary height of the mun 

 being from four feet six to five feet one, and of the women 

 from four feet four to four feet eight. Mr. Bailey thinks that 

 it would be impossible to conceive more barbarous specimens 

 of the human race. Davy even asserts that they have no 

 names, and do not bury the dead. 



They have, however, one remarkable peculiarity which it 

 would be unfair to omit. They are kind, affectionate, and 

 constant to their wives ; abhor polygamy, and have a proverb 

 that " Death alone can separate husband and wife/' In this 

 they are very unlike their more civilized neighbours. An 



* An Historical Eelation of Cey- 



lon. 1681. It is only fair to add that the 



f Ceylon. Kandyans are said to have much 



I Transactions of the Ethnologi- improved in this respect of late 



cal Society, New Series, vol. ii. years. 



p. 278. See also Davy's Ceylon. 



