21 



wear the hair long ; it is black, luxuriant and a little wavy ; 

 but with the Veddas, owing to neglect, it hangs down in 

 tangled but, properly speaking, not curly nor wooly tresses. 

 There is special testimony which conclusively proves that the 

 Sinhalese hair, when not cared for, strongly resembles that of 

 the Veddas. Information with respect to the colour of the iris 

 is less complete, but it may be gathered that, as a rule, it is 

 black or dark-brown, in both cases. As regards size", plainly 

 both races are of moderate stature, rather short than tall. The 

 significance of the shorter measure of the Veddas cannot bo 

 doubted, but the fact that they are not all dwarfs, and that 

 comparatively large Veddas are met with, may be adduced in 

 favor of the hypothesis that their often dwarfish size is a result 

 of long continued unfavourable conditions for development. 

 Nevertheless the fact in the main is well established that the 

 Veddas belong to a small, indeed to one of the smallest known 

 races. Concerning the development of muscle and strength 

 of bach/, the witnesses testify loudly in favor of the Veddas. 

 With respect to the shortness of the thumbs and pointed elbows, 

 emphasized by Mr. Hartshorne, only the first would be of any 

 importance if it should be proved by measurement to be 

 altogether disproportionate. It may, perhaps, be a deception, 

 such as that of Mr. Burnet in regard to the length of the foot, 

 which direct measure shews to be of perfectly fair proportions. 



Similar observations, only still less distinctive, we find in 

 regard to the size of the head, and especially the capacity of the 

 skull. The result proves that the Vedda skulls are on the averao-e 

 much smaller than the Sinhalese ; their capacity only averaging 

 1,261 cub. cm. against 1,406 cub. era. for the latter. [The average 

 capacity of the English male skull is 1,511 cub. cm. taking the 

 average of those in the Royal College of Surgeons. — T. B.~\ Some 

 of the Vedda' skulls are positively nano-kephalic, descending in 

 one specimen to a capacity of 1,025, and in another, that of an 

 adult man, to a capacity of only 960 cub. cm. This term nano- 

 kephalie [pigmy-headed] is chosen to distinguish the case from 

 microcephaly , in the pathological sense, [i. e., from smallness 

 of the head the result of disease or malformation.] But notwith- 

 standing this difference in average, the numbers slide over from 

 both sides ; the higher average of the Sinhalese does not prevent 



