60 



BRAND MARKS ON CATTLE. 

 BY JAMES D'ALWISv 



Cattle, as considered by all Oriental nations, are a? 

 necessary part of a man's substance. It was therefore that 

 Abraham is said to have been "rich in cattle, as well as, in. 

 silver and gold" (Gen. xiii. 2,) Not only from the esteem 

 in which the possession of cattle was anciently held, as a 

 part of man's wealth, but from considerations of policy the 

 destruction of the animal was prohibited, and visited with 

 severe punishment. In process of time people ceased to 

 kill cattle for food, and cattle-stealing became a crime un- 

 known in the land. The force of this habit however became 

 gradually so strong that the Sinhalese had as much aversion 

 to beef as a Moorman has a dislike for pork. There are 

 not few in this island, especially in the Kandyan provinces^ 

 who have not tasted, and would not taste, beef. We have 

 known instances where noblemen, invited to the houses of 

 their friends, have refused to partake of food, simply because 

 there was beef on the table. When, in one of our vieits into 

 the interior, many years ago, we accepted an invitation of 

 Mahavalatenne Ratemahatmaya, though the Kumarihami 

 of the late Acligar did the company the honor to be present, 

 she nevertheless abstained from partaking any food, simply 

 on account of geri-mas ' beef.' f Gerimaha-gulamala' was,, 

 as we learn from history, the opprobrious term with which 

 the Sinhalese reproached Europeans for a long time after 

 the British conquest.* 



* See Marshall's Conquest of Ceylon, 



