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JOURNAL, R.A.S. (CEYLON). [Vol. IX. 



to Berlin. Herr Hagenbeck himself had the kindness 

 to give the necessary instructions, so as to facilitate my 

 examination. After his departure Herr Von Schirp had the 

 kindness to bring the people before me one by one. Notwith- 

 standing this, I was only able to examine a small number of 

 the forty persons of which the company consisted. There 

 was all the preparation of their approaching departure going 

 on, and I must say, like the Paris Commission, that the 

 time spent in obtaining my results was too short. Besides, 

 the determination of personal relations was surrounded with 

 much difficulty. At first I was informed that with the 

 exception of some dancers from Hindustan, the whole 

 company was of Ceylon origin, and that of the latter, two, 

 viz., Pichchai and Murugappa, were Tamils. Both, I was 

 informed, belonged to a suburb of Colombo. Later, however, 

 I ascertained through the interpreter (who said he himself 

 was born of European parents in Ceylon) that the Tamils in 

 question belonged to the neighbourhood of Bombay. 



Herr H. Becker (" Cinghala and the Sinhalese, the Land 

 and the People of Ancient Paradise " : Frankfurt-on-Maine, 

 page 18), who wrote a not sufficiently trustworthy description 

 of the same people, says that Murugappa came from Madras, 

 and Pichchai from Negapatam, south of Madras. Whatever 

 the truth may be, the hope to see Ceylonese Tamils face to 

 face proved a delusion, and the zeal with which I engaged in 

 the examination of this rarity influenced not a little my 

 further proceedings. 



Of the Sinhalese proper, I chose two groups. As represent- 

 ing the first group, I chose the following : — 



1. A little three-year old boy called Jimmy (Sinni), who 

 with justice had become the favourite of the public ; stark- 

 naked, with the exception of a silver fig-leaf, he tumbled 

 unweariedly, and in constant good humour, about the 

 arena. 



2. His mother Liisa (Louise ?) Nona, about twenty-five 

 years old ; his father Girigoris, or Grigoris Appu, twenty- 



