•9: 



the Sinhalese people succeeded in recovering or retaining the 

 provinces of Ruhuna in the south, and Mayaratta in the moun- 

 tainous centre of the island ; but the north of the country — the 

 province of Pihiti or Rajarata, the land of the kings — remained, 

 even as far as the Mahawila Ganga, in the possession of the 

 Tamils, and was by them wholly and permanently Dravidized. 



Moors. — More peaceable invasions of the country took 

 place by Mohammedan Arabs, whose descendants are now called 

 Moors or Moormen, There seems to be no doubt that, at least 

 since the first, and certainly since the 6th century A. C. ( 4 ) 

 very extensive mercantile relations existed between Persia, 

 Arabia and Ceylon, and that since that time many of these 

 " Mauren " (as the Portugese called them later) remained in 

 the land. The present Moors seem to be descended partly from 

 these immigrants, who intermarried with native women, and 

 partly from persons of similar origin in India, who in large 

 numbers settled in the districts of Ghilaw and Puttalam ( 5 ). 

 There is now little or no distinction between these two groups 

 of Moors, who are scattered over the whole island and are the 

 chief medium of all mercantile intercourse — even with the Veddas. 



Malays. — Malays, belonging throughout to the Mohammedan 

 religion, are to be found in the island only in comparatively 

 small numbers, but scattered over many regions. According to 

 the representations of Mr. P rid ham ( 6 ) they are descended 

 chiefly from the little Rajas and their followers whom the Dutch 

 brought hither from Java, Malacca and Sumatra, and who were 

 later taken by the English into their native regiments. More 

 important it would be for us if the opinion were correct that 

 the original population of the island had been Malays. This is 

 supported by the certainly very noticeable fact that the Sinhalese 

 use double canoes, or boats with booms, just such as are used in 

 all the regions inhabited or colonized by Malays. This, however, 

 is the only foothold for the hypothesis of an ethnic relationship. 



Europeans, Negroes, Par sees. — Naturally, in the last 

 centuries the different nations of Europe, especially Dutch, 



(4) Tennent 1, 540, 555, 607. 



( 5 ) Pridhdnti. 470. 

 ( r >) Pridham p. 482. 



