No. 32. — 1886.] SCIENTIFIC RESEARCHES. 



291 



Island : almost the whole Northern Province is without any 

 cultivation, and therefore the Tamil Island of Jaffna is 

 separated by an enormous rampart of forest from the 

 Sinhalese districts, even more so than the Tamil coast of 

 Batticaloa. 



We learn in the histories of Ceylon, and observe it at the 

 present time, that Sinhalese and Tamils intermarry some- 

 times. We know, even, that many kings of Ceylon have been 

 of Tamil blood ; but notwithstanding this, a certain mutual 

 aversion of the two races is not to be overlooked, and it is 

 just that aversion which proves that a deep difference of race 

 is existent. We learnt, for instance, in Trincomalee, that no 

 Sinhalese will die in that Tamil place, but as soon as one gets 

 ill he returns to his native country ; and other facts still 

 further illustrating this aversion could be mentioned. 



The enormous belt of forest just mentioned, and the open 

 park country the solitude of which is only interrupted by 

 relatively few small villages, and very seldom by large 

 patches of cultivated land, such as near the lake of Kantalay 

 and round other smaller tanks, is the abode of the Veddas. 

 They live in the eastern part of Ceylon, and are the remnants 

 of a tribe which deserves our attention in a very high degree. 



We arrived too late for the exploration of this tribe. The 

 original wild Veddas are extinct, — at least, beyond some 

 quite incredible rumours, we could not find any traces of 

 them during the three months which we spent in searching 

 for them in the remotest parts of the Island. All the Veddas 

 have been induced to leave the rock-caves, their old natural 

 dwellings, and to settle in small villages under the charge 

 of the headmen of the adjoining districts. The purest 

 Veddas we found are living in the Nilgala district, and near 

 Bintenna ; others near Maha-oya, in the Eastern Province, 

 and in the Friars-hood range. But even these are already 

 so accustomed to Europeans by their frequent visits to 

 Kandy and Badulla, and by the hunters who have been 

 to see them, that the Nilgala Veddas, for instance, as soon as 



