128 SPOLIA ZEYLANICA. 
According to my authority the Veddas indulged in no 
games, unless, indeed, the custom of tossing dry leaves in the 
air and speculating on their position when they fell back upon 
the ground could be called a game. This, I am told, was only 
an occasional recreation, and indulged in by boys alone. 
The limits.of the hunting ground were jealously guarded by 
the Veddas, and anything like poaching by the members of 
one clan in the area recognized as belonging to another was 
punishable by death. Should a hunter lose his way and fall 
into the hands of a neighbouring clan, he would be closely 
watched, remaining for the time being in a sort of captivity. 
If the man’s conduct during that time was such as to disarm 
suspicion he was permitted to go, and might even be accom- 
panied to the confines of the clan’s hunting ground, but he 
would have to proceed at once without looking back, or his 
conduct might lead to the belief that he was a spy, with fatal 
consequences. 
The method of fishing was to hem in a piece of water by 
closely fencing in both ends of the stream. People would 
then enter the enclosed piece of water, armed with slender 
sticks, thrashing the water therewith till a fish was actually 
struck, when it would be captured. I saw this actually done 
in one pool on the Kumbukkan. 
My informant told me that the Veddas were at one time 
harassed by a race of pygmy people, called the Nittawo, who 
lived in the country known as Lenama, that extended from 
Bagura in the Panawa Pattu in the east to the confines of the 
Kattaragama hills on the west. 
According to him, these people lived in small troops of from 
10 to 40, inhabiting caves, hollow trees, and crevices of 
precipices. They were about 3 feet or a little more in height, 
exactly like normal human beings, only in miniature. Their 
legs were hairy like those of the Wanduroo ; they walked 
erect, and had no tails. 
Their arms were short and very powerful, with strong hands, 
and talon-like finger-nails with which they tore and dis- 
embowelled whatever they captured. These generally were 
small animals, such as hare, mouse-deer, monkeys, iguanas, 
and tortoises. Their method of attack was by surrounding 
