ClIAP. IV.] 



STRANGE CUSTOMS. 



4G1 



shares amongst the villagers and their hereditary officers, 

 incluthng the doctor, schoolmaster, tomtom-beater, barber, 

 and washerman.^ 



The two latter individuals are the most important 

 functionaries in the httle community ; they operate for 

 all, but receive no remuneration except theu' peri- 

 odical share of the rice crop. In addition to their 

 pecuHar professional duties, the barber and the washer 

 are the official witnesses to every legal conveyance and 

 deed ; and every marriage and important ceremony 

 must be solemnised in their presence, in order to ensm^e 

 testimony to its vahdity. In Ceylon, as in India gene- 

 rally, even the poorest natives never wash their own 

 linen, and that duty has devolved immemorially on the 

 washer caste of the community. But, in adchtion to 

 these services, the headman of the Avashers has en- 

 trusted to him the duty of preparing apartments for 

 the reception of visitors of distinction, Avhich it is the 

 custom to hang with white cloths. Li every village 

 where we rested during our journeys, a house was thus 

 varnished for us, the walls and ceilino-s havino^ been 



O ' CO 



covered previously to our arrival with white cloths, 

 borrowed from the villagers for the occasion. These 

 cloths it is a part of the washer's duty to keep or collect 

 for every ceremonial observance ; such as a wedding, a 

 feast, or the arrival in the \illao:e of strano-ers or 

 persons in authority, on whose departure they are taken 

 dowm by him to be bleached and returned to their 

 respective owners. 



In this oriental custom of the " honours of the white 

 cloth" as it exists at the present day m Ceylon, may 



* Out of the community of in- 

 terest thus engendered throughout 

 the district arose another curious 

 practice which still prevails in some 

 parts of the province. The care of 

 the fences and watercoiu-ses is en- 

 trusted by sections to every iield 

 servant interested in the crop, and to 

 secure their faithful perftmnance of 

 this dutv it is customary for the 



\'illagers to elect one of themselves 

 as an overseer, with power to inspect 

 every portion of the work, and by 

 connuou consent to inllict corporal 

 punishment in case of neglect, the 

 delinquent being compelled at tlio 

 division of the harvest to pay to this 

 functionary a proportion of liis own 

 share as reiJuoirralioH for /tis troiihh 

 ill iv/iij)j)i)i(/ him. 



