114 JOURNAL R. A. S. CEYLON, [Vol. VIL, Pt. II. 



like all savages, they have an undefined awe of the nameless spirits 

 whom they believe to haunt the darkness. The shades of their 

 ancestors and of their children seem to be purely benevolent. The 

 ceremonies with which they invoke them are few as they are simple. 

 The most common is the following. An arrow is fixed upright in 

 the ground, and the Vedda dances slowly round it, chanting this 

 invocation, which is almost musical in its rhythm : — 



" Ma miya ma miya ma deya 



Topang koyiheti mitigan yanda." 



" My departed one, my departed one, my God ! 

 Where art thou wandering?" 



" The spirit of the dead is here simply called upon, without even 

 the object for which it is invoked being mentioned. And this 

 invocation appears to be used on all occasions when the interven- 

 tion of the guardian spirits is required, — in sickness, preparatory to 

 hunting, &c. 



" Sometimes, in the latter case, a portion of the flesh of the game 

 is promised as a votive offering in the event of the chase being 

 successful, and they believe that the spirits will appear to them in 

 dreams, and tell them where to hunt. 



" Sometimes they cook food and place it in the dry bed of a river, or 

 some other secluded spot, and then call on their deceased ancestors 

 by name : * Come, and partake of this ! Give us maintenance as 

 you did when living ! Come, wheresoever you may be ; on a tree, 

 on a rock, in the forest, come !' And they dance round the food, 

 half chanting, half shouting, the invocation 



" They have no system of medicine, though they will accept medi- 

 cine when given. In cases of sickness, they sprinkle water on the 

 patient, invoking their deceased ancestors to heal him. Sometimes 

 they simply utter the names of spirits as they dance round the sick 

 man. Sometimes a garland of flowers is offered to the spirit who has 

 afflicted him. 



" They invoke the Gal-yaka, 1 spirit of the rock'; Vedi-yakd, 

 * spirit of the chase' ; U'napdna-yakd, of whom I have no knowledge; 



