f'HE SPORTS AND GAMES OF THE SINGHALESE. 25 



In some cases have been known to exceed a quarter of an 

 Inch j and as much as 15 Rupees have been paid for a 

 single nut of this kind from well-known favorite trees . 

 While the game is going on, the broken nuts are gather- 

 ed, and rasped down and boiled into oil for lighting the 

 ground during the banquet, which, as in the previous game, 

 takes place on the return of the procession through the 

 villages. The feasting over, the assembled people disperse 

 after the prescribed Hoyia. 



It is the belief of the Singhalese peasantry that both 

 these games <c are very efficacious" in expelling sickness- 

 and pestilence, and even in bringing down rain ; and the 

 popular faith is not a little confirmed by the astute Kapu- 

 rah fixing the games at the tail end of an epidemic, or 

 when unmistakable indications of a change of weather in- 

 spire him with sufficient confidence in his own powers of 

 forecasting the future. In conclusion, it may be remarked, 

 that both these games appear to have been introduced 

 from India, probably with the accession of the Malabar 

 Princes to the throne of Kandy. 



Among the out-door sports of the Singhalese, Buhu- 

 kelya (Q^^^gx) or throwing the ball, takes rank first, 

 both on account of the enthusiasm with which it is played, 

 and the skill and energy it calls forth. It is also perhaps,, 

 the only purely indigenous Singhalese game. It is usual- 

 ly played just before and immediately^after the Singhalese 

 New Year, and the season of festivity and enjoyment extends 

 over a fortnight in prosperous years. The playground is- 

 an open place, where thefboys, and not unfrequently the 

 young men, of the village assemble, and after choosing; 



