1 86 



NATURE 



[August io, 191 i 



adoption of a more civilised mode of life, that their 

 customs and beliefs might become obsolete. On being 

 approached on the subject, the Ceylon Government, 

 with their customary public spirit, voted a liberal 

 grant for this purpose, and Dr. C. G. Seligmann was 

 selected to undertake the research. He was accom- 

 panied bv Mrs. Seligmann, and to her in no small 



measure must be credited the success of the expedi- 

 tion. The Veddas are a shy and intensely jealous 

 people, bin the presence oi a woman in the party led 

 to very friendly relations being established, and Mrs. 

 Seligmann proved herself to be a first-class investi- 

 gator in the field. Their results are now 

 published as one of the Cambridge Archaeo- 

 logical and Ethnological Series of the Cam- 

 bridge University Press. 



Mr. Parker is inclined to believe that the 

 forebears of the present few hunting Veddas 

 were more civilised, and that the existing 

 condition is a reversion to the forest life of 

 their remote forefathers ; the Seligmanns, 

 however, regard the hunting Veddas as 

 direct survivals of the primitive Veddas, and 

 the traditions of a higher state of culture as 

 mainly due to confusion between the Veddas 

 and Kandayans of mixed Vedda descent, 

 who until recently called themselves Veddas, 

 or were known as such to their neighbours. 

 A brief account is given of the various 

 Vedda communities; the Danigala Veddas 

 are the show "wild Veddas " described by 

 so many travellers; although really well-off, 

 they pose as poor, morose, wild men of the 

 jungle — they are, in fact, professional 

 savages. 



The Vedda system of relationship is a late 

 form of the kind known as classificatory ; 

 the working basis is the marriage of the 

 children of brother and sister, but not of i ,, -i 

 two brothers or sisters. Before marriage a collapsi 



man pavs at least as much regard to his 

 future father-in-law as to his own father, but after 

 marriage the association between father-in-law and 

 son-in-law becomes very intimate. The social system 

 is an exogamic clan organisation with female descent. 

 Two clans are regarded as socially superior to the 

 md their members do not marry into the in- 

 ns. The Veddas greatly prefer living in rock- 



2l8o, VOL. 87] 



shelters to huts, but they shift their home two or 

 three times a year as the season demands. Most of 

 the caves shelter several families, but each family 

 keeps strictly within its own limits. There are no 

 puberty ceremonies for either sex, except among certain 

 Veddas who have been much influenced by Tamils or 

 Sinhalese. The Veddas marry young, and are strictly 

 monogamous. A rigid sexual morality 

 prevails, but at present, among the 

 more sophisticated groups, an unmarried 

 girl is allowed considerable liberty with 

 regard to the youth allotted to her. The 

 country is divided into hunting lands 

 for the different groups, within which 

 each individual has the exclusive hunt- 

 ing rights of a particular area or areas; 

 when dying, a man generally gives his 

 land to his sons, and not to his sons-in- 

 law, but no landed property passes with- 

 out the consent of the gfljMm m,n of the 

 group. Trespass is atiflRt unknown. 

 The religion of the Veddas is essentially a 

 cult of the dead; with this is associated 

 the cult of spirits, yaku, of certain long- 

 dead Veddas who may be regarded as 

 legendary heroes. The chapters dealing 

 with the magico-religious practices and 

 beliefs are of great interest and import- 

 ance. The ceremonial dances are de- 

 scribed and illustrated with great detail ; 

 the majority are pantomimic, and are 

 performed with the object of becoming 

 possessed by a yaku ; the Seligmanns 

 believe that there is no considerable 

 pretence in the performance of the 



of 



element 

 shaman. 



Dr. C. S. Myers has a chapter on music, based on 

 thirty-four phonographic records. In the Vedda music 

 we seem to meet with the very beginnings of melody- 



music ; there is no other people in whose music the 

 gradual construction of music on such simple lines 

 can be discerned. A number of Vedda songs have 

 been transliterated and translated by Mr. A. M. Guna- 

 sekara, and Mr. Parker has done the same for the 

 invocations. The senses of the Veddas were also 

 tested. Enough has been said to show that this book 



