VEDDAHS OF CEYLON. 343 



unnatural customs. But there is another, which I will relate 

 also on the authority of Kolben,* and which appears to me 

 quite incompatible with the good character he ascribes to the 

 Hottentots. When a boy came of age he was admitted into 

 the society of men, with certain ceremonies, which, though 

 ludicrous, are so disgusting that it is difficult to imagine 

 how they can have originated : after this he was entirely 

 excluded from the society of women ; he was not allowed to 

 eat or drink with them, nor to join in any of their entertain- 

 ments. But the worst has yet to follow. " A Hottentot, 

 thus discharged from the tuition of his mother, may insult 

 her when he will with impunity. He may cudgel her, if he 

 pleases, only for his humour, without any danger of being 

 called to an account for it. And these things I have often 

 known done. Nor," adds Kolben, "are such unnatural ex- 

 travagancies attended with the least scandal." I will say 

 no more about the character of the Hottentots. 



The Bushmen resembled the Hottentots in many things, 

 but were even more uncivilised. They had no knowledge 

 of metallurgy, no domestic animals, and no canoes. They 

 frequently stole the cattle of their more advanced neighbours, 

 but always killed and ate them as quickly as possible. Their 

 principal weapons were bows and poisoned arrows. 



The Veddahs. 



The Veddahs or wild tribes who inhabit the interior of 

 Ceylon have been described by Knox,f Tennent,J and 

 Bailey. They live in huts very rudely formed of boughs 

 and bark, and cultivate small patches of chena, but subsist 

 principally on honey and the produce of the chase. Their 

 weapons consist of axes and bows and arrows. With 



* I.e. p. 122. J Ceylon. 



f An Historical Relation of Ceylon. Transactions of the Ethnological 

 1681. Society. New Ser. Vol. ii., p. 278. 



