10 



Portugese and English, have added to the population ; but 

 for our researches they are of no importance. The same is 

 to be said of the African Negroes and the Parsees, the 

 former of whom have been only recently introduced, whilst 

 the latter immigrated at different periods but in small 

 numbers. 



Sinhalese. — The southerly half of the isknd, the old pro-* 

 vince of Ruhuna and the central Maya-land, are still peopled by 

 the Sinhalese; the former by comparatively pure-blooded Sinha- 

 lese, the latter by the somewhat more mixed Kandyans, the 

 immediate neighbours of the Veddas. The ethnological position of 

 the Sinhalese has been until now discussed chiefly on linguistic 

 grounds, and on these it has been inferred by some that the Sinha- 

 lese belong to the great Dekkan family, and by MaxMiiller that 

 they are a mixture of Indians with Dravidian aborigines-. But 

 others entertain directly the opposite opinion, arid particularly 

 Guilders (et>) who derives the Sinhalese language from the 

 ancient Elu with, however, an immense admixture of Sanskrit 

 words partly unchanged. According to him the word Elu is iden- 

 tical with the word " Sinhalese," by which the Sinhalese call 

 themselves. It stands for the old word Hela or Helu, and this again 

 for the still older Sela, which leads us back to the Pali Sihaldo 

 The Sinhalese language is very nearly related to Pali which, 

 however, only represents the dialect of one of the districts of 

 Magadha, (the modern Eehar), from a district of which (Lala), 

 Wijeya, the founder of the Sihala dynasty, is said to have come. 

 Hence Sinhalese is one of the native Aryan (Sanskrit) languages of 

 India, and very ancient, for it is absolutely identical with the 

 Elu of the 5th and fith centuries B,C, which is also found on the 

 rock inscriptions of Mihintale of the 2nd or 3rd century. 



Vedda Dialect. — What place the Vedda language holds 

 relatively to this is still in the highest degree dubious. In 

 Ceylon itself the opinion has long prevailed ( 7 ) that it is a 



( 6 & ) Chilclers R. Asiat. Soc. Journal (New Series) London, 1875 

 Vol. vii. p. 35: 1876, Yol. viii. p. 131. Ahvis in Journal Ceylon Branch 

 R. A. S, 1876 p. 70. 



(7) Knox 1 c. 122 : Starkie in Journal Ceylon Branch R. A. S. 1853 

 p. 80 ; Gillings 84. 



