ANIMAL AND PLANT LIFE. 123 
houses of lasting character, as neither their instincts nor 
habits necessitated such procedure. 
At Kumuna alone we find a modification of these conditions, 
in that the greater part of the land where the village stood is 
above flood level, and possessed of constant fresh water all 
the year round, besides being at a spot where there was a 
prospect of trade. 
It should be added that all the many anicuts on this river 
between. Kumuna and Kebilitte bear silent testimony to the 
violence of the floods on the river, and to the once existence 
of a large population, that probably vanished as soon as these 
engineering works were destroyed—a population who could 
enjoy the benefit of the river’s floodings by diverting the water 
into immense tanks, that now are but park-like pieces of jungle. 
The present inhabitants of the region embraced within the 
boundaries recorded here are unquestionably of mixed origin, 
as it is easy to trace on the western limits the pure Sinhalese 
type of feature, these fading again to a more specific type 
through the Maha Wedirata, and again changing markedly 
on the north-east of that country, till it is practically 
replaced by Tamils in the Panawa Pattu. Thus, it would 
seem that the Vedda type lay between the Uvan Sinhalese 
on the west and the Tamil on the east, with the result that 
frequently one would hear men, while asserting that they 
were pure Sinhalese, conversing with each other in Tamil. 
This I found to be actually the case at Bowela, where the 
villagers insisted that they were of the Goigama caste. 
I was completely baffled in my attempts to secure a voca- 
bulary of Vedda words, though I offered liberal payment 
for a few lessons in that language. I was pointed out men 
who were able to speak Vedda, and it was arranged that we 
should meet, in secret, at a definite time, and at a fixed spot, 
but when the time came I was told the men had gone away 
to find stray cattle, or some other equally trumped-up 
story. 
One night I camped close to some huts in the village of 
Wattegama, and after my lamp had been put out and I was 
supposed to be asleep, I heard an animated discussion in the 
nearest hut, but though I could hear every word, I did not 
i 6(8)15 
