CuAr. III.] 



THE VEDDAHS. 



445 



to receive her back, his family inflicting a flogging on 

 the seducer. Murder is ahnost unknown, but Avlien 

 discovered, it is compromised for goods, or some other 

 consideration paid to the relatives of the deceased. 

 ]\Ir. Atherton described the Veddahs as in general 

 gentle and afiectionate to each other, and remarkably 

 attached to their children and relatives. Widows are 

 always supported by the community, and receive their 

 share of aU fruits, grain, and produce of the chase. 

 " They appeared to him a quiet and submissive race, 

 obeying the shghtcst intimation of a wish, and very 

 grateful for attention or assistance. They are sometimes 

 accused of plundering the fields adjacent to their haunts, 

 but on investigation the charge has generally been shown 

 to have been false, and brought by the Moormen with a 

 view to defraud the Veddahs, whom they habitually im- 

 pose upon, cheating them sliamefuUy in aU their trans- 

 actions of barter and exchano-e."^ 



' E.xtract from a 2)nvafe letter. 

 The following story of the death of 

 a Veddah, told ])y Major Macready, 

 formerly Military Secretary iu Cey- 

 lon, appeared iu one of the Ceylon 

 newspapers in 1847. The writer 

 and his companions were awaiting 

 in silence the approach of a herd of 

 elephants, when their " anticipated 

 sport was inteiTupted by a wild and 

 mourufid howl, which spoke unniis- 

 takcably of some sad mischance. 

 Those who were nearest to the cry 

 ran down, and to their hoiTor found 

 a Veddah, a fme young fellow, sm-- 

 rtumded by his people and seated, 

 his back against a tree, with his in- 

 testines iu his lap. A wild bufialo 

 that he had passed almost without 

 notice in the cover had rushed on 

 him from behind, knocked him do^^•n, 

 and gored him from the groin up- 

 wards as he fell. There ncAer, I 

 believe, in the world, or in all the 

 foncifui imaginations of poetic minds 

 seeking to illusti-ate the dignity of 



our nature, was a finer picture of 

 manly fortitude than in that noble 

 savage. lie positively never — never 

 once, during the many hours we 

 were with him, showed by a move 

 or the contraction of a muscle, that 

 he felt pain from his wound, or 

 feai'ed the death that seemed too 

 sure to follow it — though the per- 

 spiration literally pom-ing from his 

 cheek and shoidders showed how 

 much he suffered. He looked up 

 calndy in our faces, poor fellow ; if 

 it Wixs to fiud comfort or confidence 

 there, I fear he foimd little of either. 

 I do not believe that one of us could 

 check the tears tlmt involuntarily 

 iiowed to see the manlv fellow and 

 to know his fate ine\-itatle. "We did 

 all we coidd — made a litter, carried 

 him to his rock, built a shed over 

 him, put back the bowels, and sewed 

 up tlie wound, but the end of the 

 story was that the poor fellow died 

 the day after, to our great grief.'' 



