342 PROCEEDINGS OF THE NATIONAL MUSEUM. vol.59. 



in numberless specimens of porcelain, ivory, wood carving, and other 

 works. 



This statuette is a specimen of old Japanese carving. Height, 39 

 inches. Japan. (Plate 90, Cat. No. 130461, U.S.N.M.) 



324. Devil dancer's dress. — Consisting of a blue cotton jacket with 

 thin strips of palm leaves stuck into it, giving it the form of fur. 

 Ceylon. (Cat. No. 154980, U.S.N.M.) 



325. Devil dancer's dress. — The same as No. 324, only that the 

 jacket is of white cotton. Ceylon. (Cat. No. 154981, U.S.N.M.) 



326. Devil dancer's lash,— Ceylon. (Cat. No. 154982, U.S.N.M.) 

 Sir James Emerson Tennent gives the following explanation and 



description of the devil dance in Ceylon: "The Singhalese have 

 demon or Sanne for each form of disease, who is supposed to be the 

 direct agent and inflicter, and who is accordingly invoked for its 

 removal. Hence on every domestic occurrence, as well as in every 

 domestic calamity, the services of the katadias or devil priests are to 

 be sought and their ceremonies performed * * *. Especially in 

 cases of sickness and danger the assistance of the devil-dancers is 

 implicitly relied on: An altar, decorated with garlands, is erected 

 within sight of the patient, and on this an animal, frequently a cock, 

 is to be sacrificed for his recovery. The dying man is instructed to 

 touch and dedicate to the evil spirit the wild flowers, the rice, and the 

 flesh which have been prepared as the pidaneys, or offerings to be 

 made at sunset, at midnight, and the morning; and in the intervals 

 the dancers perform their incantations, habited in masks and dis- 

 guises to represent the demon which they personate, as the immediate 

 author of the patient's suffering. In the frenzy of these orgies the 

 Jcatadia, having feigned the access of inspiration from the spirit he 

 invokes, is consulted by the friends of the afflicted, and declares the 

 nature of the disease, and the probability of its favorable or fatal 

 termination. At sunrise, the ceremony closes with an exorcism 

 chanted to disperse the demons who have been attracted by the rite; 

 the devil dancers withdraw with the offerings and sing, as they retire, 

 the concluding song of the ceremony, ' that the sacrifice may be accept- 

 able and the life of the sufferer extended.' " 16 And describing the 

 performance of such a dance the same author says: "We witnessed 

 the extravagances of two professional devil dancers, who were per- 

 forming a ceremony in front of a little altar, for the recovery of a 

 patient who was dying close by. It is difficult to imagine anything 

 more demoniac than the aspect, movements, and noises of these 

 wild creatures; their features distorted with exertion and excitement 

 and then hair tangled in ropes, tossed in all directions, as they swing 

 round in mad contortions." 17 



'« Sir J. E. Tennent, Ceylon. An account of the island, physical, historical, and topographical. London, 

 1860, vol. 1, p. 540. 

 » Idem, vol. 2, p. 581. 



