24 THE SPORTS AND GAMES OF THE SINGHALESE, 



leaves. The feasting over, they all rise at a sign from 

 the Kapurale, and give one united shout of Hoyia, and 

 then disperse. The Kapurale receives the customary- 

 presents, and the victorious elk horn is again laid up in 

 lavender — if a liberal sprinkling of oil of resin may be so 

 called, until some other threatenei danger brings it out. 



Another religious game also got up under similar 

 circumstances as the one already described, is called 

 Polgehume (@^03(^^?^©j or striking of cocoanuts. The 

 villagers who join in the game divide into upper and 

 lower teams, and after selecting each its Captain, proceed 

 to the usual place of meeting, each individual earning a 

 number of husked cocoanuts. A line is then measured 

 off generally, about thirty feet, and stations marked at 

 each end for the Captains. The Kapurale commences his 

 invocations, rosin burnt, tom-toms beaten and Cymbals 

 struck, and the * aptain of the upper team gives the chal- 

 lenge by pitching a cocoanut at his opponent, who stands 

 ready to meet it with another held in his hand. The 

 great art in throwing the cocoanut is to send it straight, 

 and with the stalk or eyed end foremost, as that being 

 the hardest part of the shell is better calculated to resist 

 the impact against, the one held in the opponent's hand. 

 Should the cocoanut thrown be broken, the sender repeats 

 the throw until the cocoanut held in his antagonist's hand 

 is broken when he becomes the thrower in turn, This 

 game goes on until some hundreds of cocoanuts are 

 smashed on either side and the stock of one party is ex- 

 hausted, when the other is declared winner. The cocoa- 

 nuts used, are called Porepol or " fighting cocoanuts" and 

 are chosen for the extreme thickness of their shells, which 



