122 SPOLIA ZEYLANICA. 



brittle a material as crystal. In any case this obliquely 

 fashioned knife is unique in our collection, whereas on the 

 other hand, as is well known, the whole class of Pigmies is 

 composed of such microliths made of flint." They thus leave 

 the question in doubt, but the three illustrations referred to 

 show unmistakable Pigmy specimens. In the past two years 

 I myself picked up a few puzzling implements in Ceylon, 

 which I finally sent to the Rev. R. A. Gatty, who is one of the 

 chief English authorities on the subject, for his opinion. He 

 replied at once that there was no doubt whatever, as to their 

 identity, and begged me to go on searching. _By the beginning 

 of this year I had accumulated about a dozen specimens from 

 Diyatalawa, Pattipola, Dolosbage, Hatton, Gampola, and 

 Nawalapitiya ; which shows that they are at any rate widely 

 distributed. They have since been discovered on the Horton 

 Plains and at Matale. In March and April of this year I 

 thoroughly explored the neighbourhood of Bandarawela, where 

 I found them in enormous quantities. I have collected over 

 3,600, partly from the surface, partly by digging. It was only 

 on four hills that they occurred in numbers ; but one or two 

 were to be found by careful search on other hill-tops where 

 chips were plentifully scattered. 



I cannot go deeply into the study of Pigmies to-day, but I 

 may say briefly that they are the enigma and the mystery of 

 the Stone Age. They have been found only in quite a few 

 places, four or five of which are in England, a few in caves of 

 France and Belgium, and one in India in a cave of the Vindhya 

 Hills. Except in Cevlon they are, I believe, always made of 

 flint. Tliey are found in caves or on low sandy hills, always, 

 I am told, on the western slope ; and in one case, in Lancashire, 

 they have been unearthed under ten feet of peat, implying a 

 very considerable antiquity. Archseologists are still in doubt 

 whether they belong to the Old or the New Stone Age ; and 

 they are almost equally in doubt as to the purpose for which 

 they served. Where they occur they are found in thousands, 

 and in almost identical shapes and sizes. Tlie commonest 



