437 



ciLVP. m. 



THE VEDDAHS. 



At Bintenne I had an opportunity of acquiring tlic 

 information I was so desirous to collect regarding the 

 progress and past success of the attempt made by 

 Government to introduce ci\ihsation amongst the Ved- 

 dahs. The district which they inhabit, about ninety 

 miles in length by half that breadth, is situated in the 

 south-eastern section of the island, and extends towards 

 the sea, from the base of the Budulla and Oovali hill^'. 

 Within a comparatively recent period, they ranged over 

 a much more extended area ; and in the time of the 

 Dutch, to whom they paid a tribute m elephants \ they 

 were found in the Wanny, within a very short distance 

 of the peninsula of Jaffna. 



It is incorrect to apply the term savages to harmless 

 outcasts hke these, who neither in disposition nor m 

 action exhibit such \dces as we are accustomed to 

 associate with that epithet. The proofs are stated else- 

 where^ which show the Veddahs to be a remnant of 

 the Yakkos, the aboriginal inhabitants of Ceylon, who, 

 after the conquest of the island by Wijaj^o and his 

 followers, retired before the invaders into the wilds of 

 the east and south ; whence they never emerged, but, 

 on the contrary, withdrew still deeper into the jungle 

 in order to avoid contact with civihsation. 



Here, for upwards of two thousand years, has this 



^ Valei^ttn, Oud en Nieuxv Oost- 

 Lulien, Sfc, cli. ii. p. 8, 32 ; ch. iii. p 

 49. 



501), 

 r r 3 



* See ante, Vol. I. Pt. iii. cli. vii. 

 p. 372 ; Ihkl., Vol. I. rt. V. cli. ii. p. 



