No. 24. — 1881.] veddA songs, etc. 113 



Panduvas, got him to perform certain demon ceremonies, and 

 restored the king to his wonted health. — L. De Z. 



[Since writing the above I have seen some of the songs used by 

 the Kadavara devil dancers, which not only confirm the identity of 

 the Kadavara demons and the Veddas, but also in a remarkable 

 manner strengthen the opinion I have ventured to express, that the 

 legend of the Malaya Raja is connected with the history of the 

 Veddas. It is stated in these songs that Malaya Raja on his visit to 

 Ceylon was accompanied by 2,000 Veddas, and when he performed 

 the devil ceremonies for the King, 36 Veddas stood around him 

 assisting at the ceremonies. — L, De Z.~\ 



" The result of the most patient enquiry is, that the Veddas have 

 a vague belief in a host of undefined spirits, whose influence is 

 rather for good than for evil. Still, vague as this belief is, not even 

 the wildest Veddas are without 'an instinct of worship.' They believe 

 that the air is peopled by spirits, that every rock and every tree, 

 every forest and every hill — in short, every feature of nature — has its 

 genius loci, but these seem little else than mere nameless phantoms, 

 whom they regard rather with mysterious awe than actual dread. 

 But besides this vague spirit-worship, they have a more definite 

 superstition, in which there is more of system. This is the belief in 

 the guardianship of the spirits of the dead. Every near relative 

 becomes a spirit after death, who watches over the welfare of those 

 who are left behind. These, which include their ancestors and their 

 children, they term their nehiya yakun, 6 kindred spirits.' They 

 describe them as ' ever watchful, coming to them in sickness, visit- 

 ing them in dreams, giving them flesh when hunting.' In short, in 

 every calamity, in every want, they call on them for aid, and it is 

 curious that the shades of their departed children, bilindu yakun, or 

 'infant spirits,' as they call them, are those which they appear most 

 frequently to invoke. 



" It is a pretty belief, and contrasts favourably with the superstitions 

 of the Kandyans, who have spirits enough in their system, but almost 

 all thoroughly malignant, and needing constant propitiation. But 

 the Vedda spirit-world is singularly free from evil. I can find only 

 one absolutely malignant spirit in it, whom they really fear, though, 



