438 THE NORTHERN FORESTS. [Part IX. 



remarkable fragment of an ancient race remained al- 

 most unaltered as regards customs, language, and pur- 

 suits ; and it exlubits, at the present day, a living por- 

 traiture of the condition of the islanders as described 

 in the Mahawanso before the Bengal conquerors had 

 taught the natives the rudiments of agricidtiu'e, and 

 " rendered Lanka habitable for men." ^ 



In relation to the mass of the Singhalese people, the 

 Veddahs stand in a position similar to that of tlie 

 scattered tribes, vestiges of the aborigines of Lidia, 

 still lurking in the mountain forests of Hindustan, and 

 which for ages have shrunk from intercourse with the 

 Aryan races, who subjugated, and whose descendants 

 still occupy, the Peninsida.'^ 



There is no lack of historical evidence to estabhsh 

 the identity of the Veddahs with the Yakkos.^ The 

 allusions of the Mahawanso and other native chro- 

 nicles are confirmed by classical authorities*, as well 

 as by the dkect testimony of the Chinese Buddliists, 

 who wrote of Ceylon betAveen the fifth and seventh 

 centuries^ ; and in the cm^ious tract De Moribus BracJi- 

 manorum, wliich bears the name of Palladius, and 

 appears to have been written about the year 400, 

 the Veddahs are alluded to almost by name, and 

 described in terms which apply to this extraordinary 

 tribe even at the present day.^ 



^ 3IaJuiwmiso, cli. vii. p. 49. 

 ^ Such are tlie K^oolies in Guzerat, 

 the Blieels in Malwa, the I'uttooas 



writers on the subject of the Veddahs 

 and the endurance of a custom 

 ■\vhicli identifies them incontrovertihly 



Cuttack, and the Khoonds in | witli the aborigines of Ceylon. 



Gimdwana, tlie 15edas in Mysore, and j ^ Fa IIian, luir-Koue Ki, ch. 

 the still more savage hordes anionjjst xxxviii. ; IIioven Tus.us'^g, Pelerins 



the mountains (?ast of Bengal. — See ; Bouddh., tom. ii. p. 146 



Asiat. iSuc. Joio-n. Ben<j., vol. xxvi. 

 p. 200. 



3 Lassen, I/idische AUerthims- 

 hoi(l(\ vol. i. p. 200. 



^ Allusitm has been made else- 

 where (^'ol. I. rt. V. ch. ii. p. 500) 

 to the concurrent testimonv of Plinv, 



^ Tlu! traveller of Thebes, fi-om 

 whom the author of the tract pro- 

 fesses to have derived his information, 

 describes the Veddahs in the follow- 

 ing' terms : '* !<pOaffa tyyi's tiov kciXov- 

 fiii'o)V flKTaSair, LOvog Se icttiv tKth'o 

 travv (TfitKpoTaTOV Kai a^paviararov 



and a long chain of subsequent , \L"ivoic<jwt]\aloic:h'oiKovvTiro'lTirfCKai 



