Chap. I.] INHABITANTS. 107 



Albyrouni is doubtless correct, when he says that the 

 practice of the Indian natives, before the birth of Ma- 

 homet, to wear their hair unshorn, was an intuitive 

 precaution against the excessive heat of the sun \ but 

 that the fashion in Ceylon should have assumed an essen- 

 tially feminine form, and have preserved it tlirough 

 so many centuries, presents one of the most remarkable 

 evidences with which I am acquainted, of the enduring 

 tenacity of oriental habit. 



With their delicate features and slender hmbs, their 

 frequent want of beards ''^, tlieu' use of earrings and their 

 practice of wearing a cloth round the waist called a com- 

 boy ^^ which has all the appearance of a petticoat, the men 

 have an air of effeminacy very striking to the eye of a 

 stranger.^ 



The Singhalese women dress with less grace than 

 simplicity, their principal garment being a white mushn 

 jacket, which loosely covers the figure, and a comboy or 

 waist cloth, similar to that worn by the men. But 

 their aim is the display of then- jewelry, necklaces, 

 bangles and rings, the gems of which are often of in- 

 trinsic value, though defective both in cutting and 

 mounting. The children are beautiful, their liak" 



^ " Ce qui convient an corps c'est ! ^ For the origin of this word, see 



une temperature a pen pres con- : the chapter on the intercourse of the 



stante ; et rien n'est phis propre a Chinese with Ceylon, Voh I. p. 588. 



procluire cet effet, qu'une espece So tenaciously do the Siniiliiilese 



d'envelope naturelle qu'on est libre cliny to ancienthahits,tliat even when 



de rendre plus on moins puissante." a man has pai-tiallj adopted European 



■ — Reinatjd, 3Iem, sitr Flnde, p. 288. i costumes, he willstill wear a comboy 



'^ Their slender limbs and the over his ti'ousers. 



absence of beards among the Singha- I "* It is said that the Spaniards gave 



lese is noticed in the stoiy of .Jam- the name of "Amazon" to the river of 



bulus as recorded by Diodoeijs, lib. South America, from finding on it a 



ii. ch. xxxvi. The Chinese in the tribe of Indians of delicate confiuii- 



seventh centuiy, accustomed to the ration, the men of which parted their 



flat features of the JNIogul races, were hair in front, and winding it round 



surprised at the pronunent noses of their head, secured it with a comb 



the Singhalese; and IIiotjen Thsang made from the horny fibres of a palm 



describes the natives of Ceylon, as tree, and surmounted by feathers. — 



having the " beak of a bird with the ^ Wallace's Travels on 'the Amazon, 



body of a man," — un corps (Vhomme p. 277, 498; Kidder smd Fletcheii's 



et un bee cToiseau ; tom. ii. p. 140. I Brazil, Thilad. 1857, p. 468, 507. 



