168 SPOLIA ZEYLANICA. 



long, was first cut ; immediately under the superficial soil were two 

 layers of bricks, directly below which there lay a flat worked stone 

 with a flange cut on one surface of it. The stone itself was nearly 

 3 feet long by some 15 inches broad and about 5 inches thick. So 

 far no bone or fragments of pottery had been foimd, and it was not 

 until a depth of about 30 inches was reached that fragments of pot- 

 tery appeared. Nearly a foot lower we found a considerable quan- 

 tity of coral, some bones, a couple of pieces of very poor iron ore or 

 very rich slag, fragments of pots, and a number of badly preserved 

 pieces of wood charcoal. Below tliis there was a fine gray layer of 

 ashes about six inclies thick, resting upon what appeared to be the 

 bedrock floor of the cave. Only a very few pieces of quartz, and 

 these such as might easily have got there without human assistance, 

 were found, so that there was nothing to show that this cave was 

 ever inhabited by the same folk who at one time occupied the 

 Bendiagalge caves and left their worked quartz implements behind 

 them. A good drip-ledge is cut on the rock above the mouth of the 

 cave, on the roof of which, some 5 or 6 feet above the present floor 

 level, there are a few traces of a whitish substance which may be the 

 remains of rotten plaster. 



From Maha-oya we walked to Alutnuwara, stopping on the way 

 at several settlements of Village Veddas. These are the people 

 visited and so well described by Deschamps, and we are able to con- 

 firm all he says as to their unpleasant behaviour. They live in well- 

 built huts and have good chenas, and do a considerable traffic with 

 Sinhalese hawkers, a couple of whom were staying in the village of 

 Dambani at the time of our visit. These folk have been utterly 

 spoilt by being sent for to dance and make sport for visitors, generally 

 more or less distinguished. They ask for presents every five minutes, 

 and when one man is given a present for any assistance rendered, 

 every member of the village clamours to receive the same. They 

 have preserved a number of words, which are not obviously Sinhalese, 

 or areSinhale'^ periphrases, and speak in a loud, harsh tone; this 

 being very largely a matter of pose got up to impress the visitors, 

 though the singularly helpful and kindly Arachchi of Beligala seems 

 unintentionally to have fostered the habit. He is the usual guide 

 to visitors who come to see these Veddas, having, as he says, known 

 them well for thirty years, and lie always speaks to them in the same 

 harsh tone of voice. 



We slept a night at Dambani, and early the next morning started 

 the phonograph, against which even these disagreeable people were 

 not proof, and with its aid were able to collect a good deal of inform- 

 ation about the yaku and obtain a number of their songs and incan- 

 tations. Warned bj;- our experience at Dambani we did not visit 

 the other big Village Vedda settlement of Bulugahalandena, but 

 sent for some of these men to visit us at Beligala, where for a couple 

 of days we made a most comfortable camp in the outhouses belong- 

 ing to the Gamarala, whose courtesy was very marked. From here, 



