ANIMAL AND PLANT LIFE. 129 
the prey, especially if it was sleeping. In this way the Veddas 
occasionally fell victims, and in consequence they revenged 
themselves by exterminating the Pygmies. According to my 
authority, the Nittawo existed at the time of his grandfather, 
who, he asserted, took an active part with the other members 
of his clan in burning out one of their encampments. 
The Nittawo were an entirely naked race; the females 
were shorter than the males. Their language appears to 
have been understood by the Veddas, and was described to me 
as like the twittering of birds. 
My informant knew nothing of their customs, or if they 
made use of fire. They were, however, unarmed, and appear 
to have been finally exterminated by the Veddas about three 
or four generations ago. 
I may here mention that as I was sceptical as to the story 
about this race, I took particular care to make inquiries at the 
distant village of Waradeniyawa (the furthest inhabited spot 
on the south of the Buttala-Wedirata) if the oldest inhab- 
itant of that place could give me any confirmation of it. This 
inquiry was made when Dissan Hamy was not present, and it 
would have been impossible for my questions to have been 
anticipated. To my surprise, a very old man of the village 
completely confirmed in detail Dissan Hamy’s description. 
I also made further inquiry at another village from a head- 
man, and he repeated the same story, adding that the Nittawo 
were destroyed by the Veddas out of fear. 
It is difficult to reject as false a story, told devoid of the 
usual fantastic embellishments that characterize the history 
of mythical creatures such as Yakko, when it is completely 
confirmed by parties ignorant of what the others have said. 
Even though tangible evidence is not forthcoming, and it 
would be difficult to find any, of a people so primitive as these 
creatures appear to have been, I see no valid reason for 
disbelieving the statements made to me. 
It would appear that the early Vedda and the Nittawo to 
some extent lived side by side, and both were primitive. In 
time the Nittawo were destroyed by a race who were armed, 
and these in turn were disintegrated and absorbed by forces 
they were powerless to overcome. The clan system was 
