158 SPOLIA ZEYLANICA. 



soon crossed the Kalugalbemma, with its extraordinary surface of 

 rounded and spherical masses of stone. This is figured on the maps 

 and usually described as an old road leading from Anuradhapura 

 eastwards, but, as pointed out by Mr. James Parsons, the Chief 

 Mineral Surveyor, this alleged road is a natural dyke of dolerite 

 which extends for many miles across the country. About six miles 

 from Nilgala we reached the site of one of the camps of the Drs. 

 Sarasin, and we soon plunged down the face of a wooded rocky hill, 

 descending some 450 feet in twenty minutes. Then, crossing a 

 small talawa and a stream our way led up a similar but loftier hill, 

 till at a height of about 1,200 feet we came on a rounded shoulder 

 of rock, on which stood the skeleton hut of the Danigala Veddas, 

 built on the. pattern of the ordinary vUlage Vedda habitation, but 

 entirely lacking the slats of bark which make the sides of these 

 moderately weather-proof. By its side there was an even rougher 

 shelter consisting of a large bough with the smaller branches over- 

 laid with banana leaves. Near the hut were the " patriarch " 

 Kaira and three other men ; there were also present three women 

 and a boy of about twelve and two much younger children, and 

 although both of the latter had many teeth they suckled persistently. 



Kaira, who is the viddne of the group, has a number of swellings on 

 the abdomen which are adherent to the skin and firm to the touch ; 

 the largest is hemispherical and as big as half an orange. He attri- 

 butes these to stings of bamhara, the rock bee, but since we saw no 

 similar masses subsequently, although we met many Veddas who 

 must have been frequently stung while honey-taking, this does not 

 seem very likely, and these masses are almost certainly fatty tumours. 



We did not get much information from the Danigala Veddas, who 

 were, however, perfectly ready to be photographed and to discuss 

 generalities, but who did not speak unless addressed. We put this 

 down to shyness, and so, after a short visit, returned to the bun- 

 galow, having, after obtaining permission to do so from Kaira, 

 determined*to make our first camp at the foot of the hill on which 

 the hut was perched. Accordingly on our next visit a small camp 

 was made, and the next morning we reached the top of the hill in 

 good time, and found the same folk there, but after a little talk we 

 discovered that it w^as not possible to learn anything of their cus- 

 toms from them, for they lied freely in answer to all genealogical 

 questions, maintaining that there were no more members of their 

 group. We then proposed that we should go and see their other 

 houses on a chena, said to be less than an hour's walk from their look- 

 out hut. This request was met with a blank refusal, and Mr. Bibile 

 explained that the old man asked him not to tell the white folk about 

 their affairs, and the cultivation they did, and the grain they had 

 stored ; in fact, from what we learnt on that morning and subse- 

 quently from peasant Sinhalese of the neighbourhood, it is clear 

 that the Danigala community have adopted the role of professional 



