184 SPOLIA ZEYLANICA. 



silver trifle half an inch wide. Some of them are works of consider- 

 able beauty, showing great skill and taste in their ornamentation 

 of silver and bronze, and in their variety of shape and outline. 

 Attached to them in every case by a short chain is an ornamental 

 metal rod, flattened at the end, and which is used for extracting the 

 lime. Below are the' nut sheers of steel, inlaid with silver or brass 

 and of every variety of fanciful shapes. Even toothless old age is 

 not debarred from the joys of this stimulant, and every old man 

 carries at his waist a small mortar with an ivory-handled pestle to 

 assist in the mastication of the hard nut. The first act of courtesy 

 to be shown to a villager at a Sinhalese house is to place before him 

 the betel leaf, neatly arranged with the other necessary ingredients 

 on a stand of lacquered wood or metal. (See Plate XXXIV.) 



Case 44. 



In this small table case are shown a few ancient Sinhalese iron 

 implements obtained from the buried cities of Ceylon. Most of 

 these implements are shown at the bottom of Case 46. Sir Robert 

 Hadfield, who has investigated these instruments, is of the opinion 

 that the Sinhalese must have possessed a comparatively high degree 

 of metallurgical knowledge more than a thousand years ago, and he 

 has stated that this collection of ancient tools and instruments is the 

 most complete of its kind in the world. 



Case 45. 



A man and woman of the Veddas , the aboriginal hunting caste or 

 hill tribe of Ceylon. The bark -cloth bag hanging against the side 

 of the case is made from the bark of the upas tree, Antiaris toxicaria, 

 called riti in - Sinhalese , metavil in Tamil, belonging to the same 

 natural order (Urticacese) as the breadfruit and jakfruit trees. 



The Veddas used to be an interesting race of forest haunting 

 nomads, but they are rapidly falhng victims to civihzation, exchang- 

 ing their ancient skill as bowmen and woodmen for a more sordid 

 if less precarious existence dwindling towards extinction. 



They are chiefly to be found in the Province of Uva, but it is 

 possible to tramp through the Province from top to bottom without 

 seeing a sign of a Vedda. Occasionally persons are paraded as 

 Veddas, but when seen away from their natural environment the 

 effect must be pitiful rather than picturesque. 



Case 46. 



This case is mainly devoted to brassware. On top are spittoons 

 and kettles. Inside are drinking vessels and other domestic 

 utensils of various kinds. In the table cases there is a fine collection 

 of Dutch and Kandyan tobacco boxes, articles of native dress, and 

 embroidered and painted cloths. There is also a smaU collection of 

 articles made from tortoiseshell. In the base of the case is a set of 

 elephant bells and a large series of ancient implements, the best of 

 which are represented in Case 44. 



Spittoons formed an important portion of the domestic economy 

 of the betel-chewing Sinhalese. They vary in size from the tall 

 brass article four feet in height, which is used by the rich man as he 

 lies in his bed, to the tiny silver vessel, a few inches high, which is 



