4-28 THE NORTITERN FORESTS. [rART IX. 



and his daughter, came in timidly, remained standing 

 for a few moments, and then retired. They were di^essed 

 in loose cloths, in the Kandyan fashion. Their feet 

 w^ere bare, but their necks, arms, and ankles Avere 

 loaded with gold chains and jewels, so dirty that it 

 Avas difficult to estimate their value, or discover their 

 beauty. 



In this instance tlie lady was the wife of one hus- 

 band, but the revolting practice of polyandry prevails 

 throughout the interior of Ceylon, chiefly amongst the 

 Avealthier classes ; of whom, one woman has frequently 

 three or four husbands, and sometimes as many as 

 seven. The same custom was at one time universal 

 throucfhout the island \ but the influence of the Por- 

 tuo-uese and Dutch sufficed to discountenance and 

 extinguish it in the maritime provinces. As a general 

 rule the husbands are members of the same fomily, and 

 most frequently brothers. According to the notion of 

 the Singhalese, the practice originated in the feudal 

 tunes, when, as is alleged, their lice lands Avould have 

 gone to destruction, during the long absences enforced 

 on the people by the duty of personal attendance on 

 the king and the higher chiefs, had not some interested 

 party been left to conduct theu" tillage. Hence the 

 community of property led eventually to the community 

 of wives. An aged chief of the Four Corles, Ai^anpulle 

 Eatemahatmeya, who lived under three native kings, 

 prior to the conquest of Kandy liy the British, informed 

 me, in 1848, in reply to an inquiry addressed to him as 

 to the origin of polyandry, that its prevalence was attri- 

 butable to the services above alluded to, " when the peo- 

 ple gave their attendance at the royal palace, and at 

 the residences of the great headman, besides contributing 



1 The King of Cotta, "NVijayoBahu I witli his brother; and Raja Singhal. 

 VII., who was reigiiing when the was born in polyandry. — Valextyn, 

 rortuguese built their first fort at Oiul en Nietm Oost-Indim, eh. vi. p. 

 Colombo, had one wife in common ' 05. 



