﻿434 ox TIIF. RELIGION AND MAXXERS 



VeHale may wasli bis own linen, or fish for liis own 

 table; ncitbcr is a Vdlale degraded for cultivat- 

 ing tbe ground of a man of inferior cast; in the 

 same way as a Navandane may make a working tool 

 for a Radius : for tbere are not two species of J^ct- 

 lale.'i nor of Navandanc.s. But, as there are two 

 kinds of washermen, a Radave would think it be- 

 neatb him to wash for a Berereifiy. In the part of 

 the island belonging to tlie Knglisli there is a dif- 

 ference in the casts, but so confused as to make it 

 difficult to give an exact idea of them; the precise 

 line between them not having been drawn in this 

 part of the island. For the last twenty years, tlie 

 Sulcgame^ or Saleas, or Mahabade ha\e lost, with 

 their privileges, the priority M'hich their greater 

 utility entitled them to over the Vellalcs. There is 

 also another class of inhabitants, of Mhom many 

 authors have spoken, without knowing any thing 

 about them. They are called Bcdas or Vedas. The 

 Bedas are of no cast ; but they are not considered 

 as impure, and enjoy, as a body, a certain degree 

 of consideration. They inhabit the woods, and live 

 up in the trees. They h^d principally on the game 

 they kill with their arrows, and have the reputation 

 of being good archers. Their bows are remarkably 

 difficult to draw. Their arrows have a piece of iron 

 at the end, six or eiglit inches long, and about one 

 and a lialf broad. With these they can kill an ele- 

 phant by striking him between his eyes, a thing 

 very possible from the construction of the bone 

 about that part. When a Veda wants an iron lance, 

 or a tool, which is nearly tlie only thing he may 

 stand in need of that he cannot procure for himself, 

 lie places in the night, before the door of a smith, 

 some honey or game, together with a model of the 

 instrument he requires in wood or earth. In a day 

 or two after, he returns and finds the instrument he 

 lias demanded. This good faith and reciprocal con- 

 lidence j>rove, at least, that some honesty exists in 



a country 



