'No. 24.— 1831.] veddA songs, etc. 



107 



Indeed, Saffragam or Habaragamuwa means ' the district of Veddas' 

 or ' barbarous people'; and in this form of the word the former 

 existence of Veddas can again be traced as Rabara-goda, Habara- 

 kaduwa, &c. It is traditional throughout Saffragam that once 

 Veddas predominated over Sinhalese in that district, and that, as the 

 latter gained ground, the former withdrew towards Bintenna and 

 Wellassa. But Mr. Macready, of the Civil Service, has given me 

 very important proof of the existence of Veddas near the Samanta 

 mountains. He has given me the translation of some stanzas from 

 a Sinhalese poem, written about 400 years ago, called the Paravi- 

 sandesaya, or ' the Dove's message.'* The poem treats of a message 

 sent, by means of a dove, from Kotte (near Colombo) to Vishnu at 

 Dondra, at the extreme south of the Island. The dove takes its 

 course exactly over the districts lying below Adam's Peak. The 

 poet addresses the dove, and tells her she will see [at Potupitiya] 

 < the daughters of the Veddas' clothed in riti] bark, their hair adorned 

 with peacock's plumes. So wild are they that the poet describes the 

 herds of deer as being startled at the sight of them." — J. B. 



[The following are the stanzas referred to, with a translation :— - 















©C 3 C 3 C8®333D £D<3 ©c^Sg ©S3 





















" See the lovely daughters of the Veddas ( Malakidu) passing to 

 and fro through the forest tracts, constantly clothed with riti bark 

 beaten out and prepared {lit. disentagled), gay (lit. shining) with 

 yellow tilaka (mark) on their foreheads, entwining their hair with 

 peacock plumes -and clusters of flowers. 



* Paravi-sandesaya [adSfiae^osos]. Stanzas 55, 56, Colombo, 1873. 

 f Riti [2>§]. Antiaris innoxia or A. saccadora. 



