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



Lusa Nona had much lighter shades of colour than her 

 husband and her brother. For example, I noted for Girigoris 

 3 g, for Andre 3 h, for Lusa Nona 3 i, therefore at the 

 time one degree lower (clearer), whereas Pichchai (4 /) 

 showed a degree higher (darker) than Girigoris. 



In Ceylon the opinion prevails that the Tamils are dis- 

 tinguished by a darker skin than the Sinhalese. But when 

 Davy asserts that the colour of the skin of the Sinhalese 

 varies from light brown to black, it must be clear that the 

 difference cannot be constant. Percival expressly declares 

 that the colour of Sinhalese women approaches the yellow, 

 and even Cordiner asserts that the colour of the higher 

 classes is quite as light, or even lighter, than that of brunettes 

 in England. One may perhaps infer from all this that the 

 variation of colour of skin among the Sinhalese is even 

 greater than among the Tamils, and that a larger number of 

 persons with a small amount of pigment in the skin occur 

 among the Sinhalese ; but a means of distinguishing the 

 dark Sinhalese from the Tamils is not to be looked for in 

 the skin colour alone. 



I would like finally to remark that the assertion of 

 Cordiner, that the palmar surfaces of the hands and feet of 

 the Sinhalese of all classes are uniformly white, — an asser- 

 tion also found in Selkirk, — has not been quite corroborated 

 in our Sinhalese. The palms of the men show 30-31, of the 

 women 26-24 of the Parisian colour table, therefore quite 

 clear shades, yet still plainly pigmented. The man from 

 Madras or Bombay, viz., Pichchai, had likewise No. 26. Yet 

 it must not be forgotten that the Parisian colour table leaves 

 lacunce, and that the determination of Radde's tables give 

 different values : for example, for No. 30-31, at one time 

 R. 3. E., at another time R. 4. 0. 



The colour of the hair was fixed by the Paris Commission, 

 No. 48 of the table, i. e., as pure black. In fact, the richly 

 developed heads of hair of the men, woven long and 

 gathered at the back or side of the head into a knot (konde), 



