372 



THE SINGHALESE CHRONICLES. 



[PART III. 



B.C. their impatience in rebellion. 1 Hence the progress of 



104. civilisation amongst them was but partial and slow, 



and in the narratives of the early rulers of the island 



there is ample evidence that the aborigines long retained 



their habits of shyness and timidity. 



Notwithstanding the frequent resort of every nation 

 of antiquity to its coasts, the accounts of the first voy- 

 agers are almost wholly confined to descriptions of the 

 loveliness of the country, the singular brilliancy of its 

 jewels, the richness of its pearls, the sagacity of its 

 elephants, and the delicacy and abundance of its spices ; 

 but the information which they furnish regarding its 

 inhabitants is so uniformly meagre, as to attest the absence 

 of intercourse ; and the writers of all nations, Greeks, 

 Romans, Arabians, Chinese and Indians, concur in their 

 allusions to the unsocial and uncivilised customs of the 

 islanders. 2 



As the Bengal adventurers advanced into the interior 

 of the island, a large section of the natives withdrew 

 into the forests and hunting grounds on the eastern and 

 southern coasts. 3 There, subsisting by the bow 4 and the 

 chase, they adhered, with moody tenacity, to the rude 

 habits of their race ; and in the Veddah of the present 

 day, there is still to be recognised a remnant of the un- 

 tamed aborigines of Ceylon. 6 



Even those of the original race who slowly conformed 

 to the religion and habits of their masters, were never 

 entirely emancipated from the ascendency of their 

 ancient superstitions. Traces of the worship of snakes 

 and demons are to the present hour clearly perceptible 

 amongst them; the Buddhists still resort to the incan- 



1 Mahaivanso, ch. Ixxxv. 



2 See an account of these singular 

 peculiarities, Vol. I. P. v. c. ii. p. 592. 



3 Hiouen Thsang, the Chinese geo- 

 grapher, who visited India in the 

 seventh century, says that at that 

 time the Yakkhos had retired to the 

 south-east comer of Ceylon ; and 

 here their descendants, the Veddahs, 



are found at the present day. Voy- 

 ages, #<?., liv. iv. p. 200. _ 



4 Mahawanso, ch. xxiv. p. 145, 

 xxxiii. p. 204. 



5 DE AlAVis,' Sidath Sanr/am, p. 

 xvii. For an account of the Veddahs 

 and their present condition, see Vol. 

 II. P. ix. ch. iii. 



