Cu.vr. Ill] 



THE YEDDAHS. 



439 



The modern Veddahs live more or less by limiting 

 and the use of t]ie bow, in drawing which they occa- 

 sionally employ their feet as well as tlieir hands. ^ The 

 "Eock Veddahs" and the "Village Veddahs" form tlie 

 two grand divisions of the tribe, whose respective 

 names serve to indicate, faintly, tlie difference in tlie 

 amount of civilisation which is found to subsist amongst 

 tlie members of this wild race. The Village Veddahs 

 approach the confines of the European settlements on 

 the eastern coast, where they cultivate some rude 

 species of grain, and submit to dwell in huts of mud 

 and bark. The Eock Veddahs^ remain concealed in 

 the forests, subsisting on roots, fish, honey, and the 

 produce of the chase ; lodgmg in caves, or under the 

 shelter of overhanging rocks, and sometimes sleeping 

 on stages, which tliey construct in the trees. ^ Li the 

 choice of their food, both classes are almost omnivorous, 

 no carrion or vermin being too repulsive for tliek 

 appetite. They subsist upon roots, grain, and fruit, 

 when they can procure them ; and upon birds, bats, 

 crows, owls and kites, which they bring down with the 

 bow ; but for some unexplained reason, they will not 

 touch the bear, the elephant, or buffalo, altliougli the 



Kpriftvotaritv tTriaravTat Sid ti)v tou 

 Tonov ffViTTpotjiijv, Ei'iri St kuI ol UtaaSif; 

 c'lv'^poiirnpia, Ko\a€u, ijeyaXoKi-'jaXa, 

 dicapra, Kai aTrXorptya." — Lib. iii. cll. 

 viii. It is a remarkable coincidence 

 that this name of liisncke, or Besmlce 

 (which in mediiBval Greek is pro- 

 noimced Vesadae) is applied by 

 Ptolemy to a similar race inhabitinf^- 

 Northern India. A forest tribe of 

 IMysore, knowii by the name of 

 Bedas or Vedas, formed part of the 

 army of Tippoo Sahib. 



1 See ante, Vol. I. Pt. iv. ch. viii. 

 p. 499. One meaning of the word 

 V eddah, is " an Archer." De Alwis, 

 Sidath Sangara, p. xvii. ; and the 

 3fahaw((nso, speaking of one of the 

 waiTiors of Dutngaimimu who came 



from the Yeddah coimtiy, says, the 

 " exercise of the bow was the pro- 

 fession of their caste," ch. xxiii. 



'^ The term " Rock Veddalis," 

 (faUe-vedda, is probably a modern 

 distinction ; but may not the tribe 

 still represent the ancient " Gallas " 

 who once inhabited the south of the 

 island, and from whom it is just 

 possible that the harbom- of Galle 

 may have acquired its name, although 

 other derivations are more plausible ? 



^ Humboldt mentions a race of 

 South Anu!i-ican Indians, the Gua- 

 raons in tlie Delta of the Orinoco, 

 who construct their dwelings in 

 trees, and generally on the top of the 

 Mauritia I'alms, — Pcrsmi. Narrat., 

 ch. XXV. 



r F 4 



