164 SPOLIA ZEYLANICA. 



in the sword and the spear that the artistic instinct of the smith 

 developed itself. A dagger has always been a part of the everyday 

 dress of the Sinhalese, and to-day every villager carries his knife at 

 his waist. The collection in Case 17 shows some of these of the 

 most elaborate description. The handles are of ivory, horn, crystal, 

 or bronze, and the style of decoration followed resolves itself into 

 three or four broad classes. In the better specimens more than 

 one-half of the blade is covered with exquisite metal work, whether 

 silver or bronze inlaid with silver ; the scabbards are usually of 

 wood and sometimes of horn, and as in the case of the blade they 

 are also adorned with silver work. Some of the scabbards are 

 fitted with the steel silver- mounted stylus which was used for 

 inscribing on the palm leaves which served the Sinhalese instead 

 of paper ; these daggers were used by the officials whose duty 

 necessitated the frequent entering of records. (See Plates XVII. 

 and XLI.) 



The swords are chiefly distinguished by the shortness of the 

 blades and by the smallness of the handles. Those worn by the 

 higher military officers were invariably covered with a profusion of 

 gold and silver ornament, in which seven lion heads are prominent. 

 With the development of firearms the sword fell more and more 

 into disuse, and is to-day represented by the highly ornamental but 

 utterly unpractical weapon which is worn with Sinhalese uniform. 

 The visitor should notice in Case 17 the tortoiseshell scabbard 

 richly carved which used to be worn in mourning. Two ancient 

 straight swords at the bottom of Case 17, with long inscriptions, are 

 among the most interesting objects of this collection. It will be 

 noted that inlaid in brass on some of the blades are certain figures , 

 whether of animals like the lion, horse, and dog, or conventional 

 designs of flowers, &c. These are remnants of the Sinhalese system 

 of heraldry, and served to differentiate between the various castes 

 which used the weapons. A variety of Indian and Malay swords, 

 daggers, and krises are shown in Cases 18 and 19. The Moorish 

 thrust dagger in Case 19 should be particularly noted ; this is the 

 device which is still used by these Indo-Arabs in branding cattle. 

 (See Plate XVII.) 



The weapons which were introduced into the country by the 

 Europeans can be easily distinguished by their appearance. The 

 Portuguese sword shown in Case 19, which was found at the site of 

 the ancient capital of Cotta, where for sixt}^ years Portuguese 

 influence made itself felt, bears an interesting inscription.* The 

 weapons of the Dutch East India Company, which invariably bear 



the Company's mark ^^ with the date, are collected in Case 18, 



Their blades were greatly in demand among the Sinhalese, and their 

 swords-sticks or kala bonde were fashionable amongst the noblemen 

 of the Sinhalese (.-ourt towards the end of the seventeenth century. 



The Portuguese writers again and again express their admiration 

 of the skill of the Sinhalese in the manufacture of firearms. As 

 usual the best of these were heavily ornamented with silver, and a 

 beautiful specimen of such a gun may be seen in Case 20. A large 

 number of small cannon or kodi tuwakku — foot-muskets, as the 

 Portuguese called them, or " grasshoppers," according to the Dutch 



* • ' No me embaines sin honor. No mo aaines sin razon.' ' 



