THE VEDDAS OF CEYLON 



173 



projecting jaws, prominent teeth, 

 flat noses, small stature, and every 

 evidence of the effects of in- 

 sufficient diet. The children are 

 unsightly objects, entirely naked, 

 with ill-shaped limbs, huge heads, 

 and prominent stomachs; the 

 women, as the reader will see from 

 our illustrations on pages 173-7, 

 are, to say the least, not pleasing 

 specimens of humanity. Some of 

 the men and women present a 

 type apparently somewhat similar 

 to that of the native Australian. 



Those who live in the forests 

 subsist chiefly on roots, fish, honey, 

 iguana lizards, and the products 

 of the chase, such as the Wandura 

 monkey, the deer, and the wild 

 boar. In their choice of food they 

 are omnivorous, no carrion or even 

 vermin being too repulsive to suit 

 their appetite; but grain and 

 fruits, when procurable, are used. 

 Being skilful archers, they bring 

 down with their long arrows such 

 prey as bats, crows, owls, and 

 kites, but for some curious reason 

 they will not touch the bear, the 

 elephant, or the buffalo. The 

 flesh of deer and other animals 

 they dry in the sun and store it 

 away in hollow trees for use on 

 some future occasion. Their food 

 is always cooked. 



Veddas may be divided, according to Sir James Tennent, into three groups: first, the 

 " Rock Veddas," who till lately dwelt almost entirely within the Bintenne forests, and lodged 

 in caves or under the shelter of overhanging rocks, sometimes sleeping in trees, in which a 

 kind of stage or platform has been constructed; secondly, the "Village Veddas," on the eastern 

 coast, where they cultivate some kinds of grain, and even dwell in rude huts of mud and bark. 

 These Village Veddas are but slightly removed from the wild tribes of the jungle, with whom 

 they have no dealings. Their position is somewhat intermediate between the more or less 

 civilised people of Kandi and the Veddas of the rock. Probably they have to some extent 

 intermarried with the people of Kandi. The only garment they wear is a bit of cloth larger 

 than that worn by the forest tribes. Some, as the reader will see from the illustrations on 

 pages 173-7, simply make a substitute for cloth out of leaves. The women ornament themselves 

 with necklaces of brass beads and bangles cut out of shells. 



The third division, or " Coast Veddas," numbering about 300, have settled down in the 

 jungles, and eke out a living by helping the fishermen in their operations, or by felling timber 

 for the Moors, to be floated down the rivers to the sea. By the assistance of the Government 

 their condition has been materially improved. In the year 1844 they came in, expressing the 

 utmost reluctance to abandon the seashore and the water, but nevertheless gladly accepting 



Photo by Doctors Paul and Fritz Sarasin, Basle. 

 A VEDDA WOMAN. 



