No. 32. — 1886.] SCIENTIFIC reseakohes. 



293 



examine these skulls, — we shall do so in Europe, — and there- 

 fore are now able to speak only of the results which we 

 obtained by measurements of living individuals. Many 

 of these measurements will have to be compared with those 

 of skulls where alone measurements can be taken with 

 mathematical exactness. 



To begin with the height, we found the Veddas to be 

 the shortest of the three races. Veddas of Maha-oya had 

 an average height of 1,541 mm., eight from Nilgala 1,575, 

 thirteen coast Veddas north of Batticaloa 1,591 mm. After 

 these, range twenty -two Sinhalese with 1,624 mm., and finally, 

 as the tallest, the Tamils, of whom twenty-five have been 

 measured with 1,652 mm. of height on the average. The size 

 of the head does not at all correspond with the height, as the 

 largest head does not belong to the Tamils, but to the 

 Sinhalese ; and this fact is in accordance with the higher 

 intellect of the latter. In size of head the Tamils range after 

 the Sinhalese, then the coast Veddas, and by far the smallest 

 heads are those of the Yeddas in the interior. The coast 

 Yeddas contain, as already mentioned, many Tamil elements, 

 and therefore in a number of measurements range between 

 the Tamils and the other Yeddas. 



It may be interesting to point out in which measurements 

 the principal differences are found. Firstly, the height of the 

 face, that is the distance from the notch of the nose to the 

 chin, is with the Yedda the smallest (105 mm.) on the 

 average ; it is larger in the Tamil head (111 mm.), and largest 

 in the Sinhalese (115 mm.), and this difference gives to the 

 whole face a different appearance. 



Secondly, we have the diameter of the back part of the 

 skull, or the distance between the two mastoid bones, in 

 the Yedda only 124 mm., in the Tamil 130, and in the Sin- 

 halese 132. The head of the Yedda is therefore in its back 

 part narrower than the head of the two other races, and 

 especially of the Sinhalese, and we have strong reasons to 

 suppose that the brain of the Yedda is likewise much 



