Fjt}inograj)liy of the Aborigines. 349 



realms of the East by more than 300 millions of people, gains 

 in interest the more we become acquainted with them, and the 

 more we make their traditions, their mode of life, and their 

 customs, the object of special inquiry. 



The Cingalese, or indigenous natives (so named to distin- 

 guish them from the other inhabitants of the island, belonging 

 to other stocks and amalgamated races, who at various periods 

 had settled here, and who call themselves Ceylonese), were 

 entirely the offspring of Hindoo emigrants, who, about five 

 centuries before the birth of Christ, came from Hindostan to 

 Ceylon, and imported their own mode of government, and 

 system of caste, as also their arts, language, and religion, from 

 the continent into the island. 



They constitute the germ of the present population, and 

 early divided themselves into four leading castes : — 1st, that of 

 the royal family; — 2nd, the Brahmins; — 3rd, the merchants, 

 peasants, and shepherds ; — and 4th, the sixty inferior common 

 castes. At present there exist in Ceylon only the two latter. 

 The most numerous is that of the peasants, who, however, 

 meddle but little with the cultivation of the soil, but have 

 arrogated to themselves the exclusive and hereditary possession 

 of all employments, lay or ecclesiastical. The dress of the 

 Cingalese usually consists of a cloth wound turban-fashion 

 round their head, and long white drapery. On festive occa- 

 sions they wear richly-adorned tight-fitting jackets of velvet or 

 wool, and on such occasions rank and power assert themselves 

 by the number of garments, to such an extent that frequently 



