No. 32.— 1886.] SCIENTIFIC eesearohbs. 



289 



OUTLINE OF TWO YEARS' SCIENTIFIC 

 RESEARCHES IN CEYLON. 



By Drs. C. F. and P. B. Sarasin * 

 (Bead February 16, 1886.) 



IN the short space of a report it will naturally not be 

 possible to enter into any details : we can simply give 

 a few results which seem to us to be of interest. Further, 

 we must omit to refer to and compare notes with works 

 already published on the different objects we speak of i this 

 we reserve for our future publications in Europe, of which 

 copies will be sent to the Society. 



I. — Anthropological. 



We begin with some anthropological notes, and shall 

 later on refer to our chief branch of study, zoology. 



We did not intend, when we came to Ceylon, to make 

 anthropological investigations ; but as the races in this Island 

 proved of the highest interest, we could not but spend a 

 part of our time in examining them. During our journeys, 

 in which we traversed the Island in nine directions, we 

 acquired a great deal of information on this subject. 



As is very well known, Ceylon contains three principal 

 races, the Sinhalese, the Tamils, and the Veddas. There are 

 others, whom we may dismiss with a brief remark ; for 

 instance, the Moors, more or less casual inhabitants, Arabian 



* In offering this Paper to the Ceylon Branch of the Royal Asiatic 

 Society, we wish to express our best thanks for the kindness shown to us 

 by this Society in presenting us with an almost complete series of the 

 Society's Journals. Besides, we owe a debt of gratitude to many individual 

 Members for the ready assistance they have been good enough to give 

 us in our exertions, and to which we think we cannot reply in a more 

 appropriate way than by laying before you a preliminary report of our 

 researches. 



