Chap. IU.] THE VEDDAHS. 451 



On one occasion we saw the Veddalis perform the opera- 

 tion more frequently read of than witnessed, of kindhng 

 a fire by the friction of two diied sticks.^ For this 

 purpose one of them took his arrow, broke it into two 

 pieces, sharpened the one hke a pencil, and made a 

 hole in the other to receive its point. Then placing 

 the latter on the ground, and holding it down firmly 

 with his toes, he whirled the pointed one round in the 

 hole, rolling it rapidly between the palms of his hands. 

 In a few moments it began to smoke, a httle charcoal 

 then fell in powder, and presently a spark jumped out, 

 kindled the charcoal dust, and the end was accomphshed. 

 The Yeddah blew it gently with his breath, hghted 

 a dry leaf by its heat, and pihng up small cliips 

 and dry twigs upon the flame, raised in a few minutes 

 a cheerfid blaze, by which om* servants prepared their 

 coffee. 



On leaving Bintenne our company divided ; — one 

 party, whose object was hunting, turning northward, 

 in search of wild elephants, deer, and smaller game, 

 in pursuit of which they had liitherto met mtli but 

 indifferent success, because the country was under 

 water, and the natives were deterred from beating 

 the jungle through fear of crocodiles. The other, 

 with the Commissioner of Eoads, my son, and myself, 

 kept on a course due east tlu"ough the forests towards 

 Batticaloa. The richness of the region amongst the 

 low hills which we passed in this direction was quite 

 astonishing ; pastiu-e, where the forests became broken, 

 was luxuriant in the extreme ; and we rode across 

 long tracts of land adapted in the highest degree for 

 the production of grain, and still showing traces of 

 ancient cultivation, but now sohtary and uttei'ly neg- 

 lected. Satin-wood and ebony were more and more 



^ The wood used for this purpose 1 Ifihiscm tiliacem, — Dakwin, Nat. 

 by the natives of Tahiti is that of | Voi/., ch. xviii. 



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