10 CEYLON BRANCH — -ROYAL ASIATIC SOCIETY. 



very far off on the other, the timid and uncivilized tribes of 

 the Veddahs of Bintenne and the Yedderatte : — the former 

 perhaps, I mean the Bentotte people, like the Solleans of the 

 Alootcoor corle, the descendants of captives taken in the 

 native wars ; the latter, that is to say the Yeddahs, the des- 

 cendants of Kuweni's children by Wijeya, or rather Ku- 

 weni's kindred, the aboriginal inhabitants of the island. 

 Nor does the interest cease on looking forward to the fu- 

 ture : do we not see there, the traffic of the interior wend- 

 ing its way to and from the ports and havens of the south ! 



This portion of the island, however, interesting as it 

 may be, is not the only place of interest in the island: 

 every where there are objects of interest, every where sub- 

 jects for study ; and perhaps it may be said, as of the island 

 itself in an agricultural point of view, the best soil is still 

 the alluvium of previous vegetation. This observation, 

 however, must remind us that we have not yet had from 

 any member of the Society any paper, or other communi- 

 cation, on agriculture, or on soils, or on geology, — yet these 

 all fall under the scope of the Society. The attention of 

 members should be directed to supply the deficiency. 



With respect to the Weather and Meteorology of the 

 island, there is, as already intimated, a sitting Committee 

 on that matter. But it is impossible to pass from the sub- 

 ject without expressing an opinion of its great importance, 

 and also of the excellent advantages which the island af- 

 fords for observations tending to establish the laws of storms 

 in the Indian ocean. It appears probable, indeed, that 

 from the log books of the vessels which put in to this island 

 after the storm of 1st December last alone, the character 

 of that storm could be determined ; but when we add to 

 these the accounts we have from Batticaloa, and the ac- 

 counts which might have been obtained from the crews 

 brought hither on that occasion, no doubt can be entertained, 

 nor, consequently, of the opportunities which the island 

 offers, for watching the movements and operations of storms 

 here, and ascertaining the laws by which they are deter- 

 mined. Yet no account of the above, or any other storm, 

 has yet been submitted to the Society. 



The botany and zoology of the island are also in a man- 

 ner as yet unentered upon by the Society, — and the char- 

 acter, origin, and history of the different classes of the po- 

 pulation. This last is a subject as interesting as it is va- 

 rious. Here are the Malabars, so called, of whom it may 



