STONE IMPLEMENTS OF CEYLON. 121 



subject, or if some one living in the neighbourhood of gem-pits 

 devotes a little time occasionally to raking over the spoil- 

 heaps. I have in my collection no implement which can be 

 certified as Palaeolithic, but I show one or two to-night which 

 raise a strong presumption in their favour, and Mr. Pole has 

 a few surface specimens from Maskeliya which remind one 

 very strongly of relics of the Old Stone Age. I would call your 

 attention particularly to one fragment of chert on the table, 

 found by me lately on the surface at Bandarawela. In 

 comparatively recent times this stone has been chipped, 

 probably by a Neolithic savage, who required flakes for some 

 small tool. This recent chipping is yellow and highly lustrous, 

 which alone is a sign of a respectable antiquity. But the 

 original mass, where untouched, is of a deep chocolate-brown, 

 and shows marks of workmanship bolder and incalculably 

 more ancient than the former. The ridges left by the old 

 chipping are so worn as to have quite lost their sharpness ; 

 and' I have no hesitation in saying that if found in an admit- 

 tedly Palseolithic neighbourhood in Europe, this stone would 

 be accepted without any question. Much however remains 

 to be done in Ceylon before any certainty can be attained. 

 Our greatest want is the exploration of gravel-beds, which 

 seem to me surprisingly rare in our land. 



Before I bring this Paper to an end, I must give a short 

 account of my recent discovery of the rare and mysterious 

 class of implements known as Pigmies, which brings me back 

 once more to the valuable work of the Doctors Sarasin. On 

 page 30 of " Die Steinzeit auf Ceylon " they write as follows : — 

 " More seldom there occur also small knives of this fine sort, 

 fashioned obliquely, such as are illustrated in figures 89, 96, 

 and 104, with the edge turned downward, of which especially 

 the first attracted our attention because the thickened, bow- 

 shaped back is formed by carefuUy -applied minute chipping, 

 a secondary work which we recognize in a very similar form 

 on the fine blades and points of the so-called (Pigmy or) 

 Tardenoisian implements, certainly a tedious work on so 



K 6(5)13 



