336 



JOURNAL, E.A.S. (CEYLON). 



[Vol. IX. 



THE VEDDA'S OF CEYLON. 

 By C. J. R. Lb Mesurier, Esq., co s., f.g.s., &c. 



Some years ago, while arranging the records of the old 

 Kandy Kachcheri, I came across an account of the Veddas, 

 written, so far as I can remember, in the form of an official 

 report to the resident at Kandy in the year 1820. By the 

 permission of the then Government Agent, I took a copy of 

 this document, and since that time have had several opportu- 

 nities of verifying the information it contained. 



I do not think the account has ever been published, at least 

 I can find no record to that effect, and I venture therefore to 

 offer it in the form of a Paper to the Asiatic Society. 



I have myself, on several occasions, come across the hill 

 or rock Veddas, while shooting on the borders of the Central 

 and Eastern Provinces. My first introduction to them was 

 on this wise. 



I was tracking up an elephant at some distance from the 

 Pattipola ar, where my camp had been pitched. We were 

 in the midst of a dense forest, when I suddenly heard the 

 sound of an axe. The elephant had heard it too, apparently, 

 for just about this time we saw from his tracks that he had 

 bolted, and we therefore gave him up. 



Turning to my tracker, I asked him who was cutting trees 

 in this out of the way forest, and he replied that it was, he 

 thought, a Vedda. I at once dashed off towards the sound, 

 to see what was to me then a curio ; but the tracker promptly 

 stopped me, and said, "That is not the way to catch a 

 Vedda : he will bolt the instant he hears you, and you 

 will never see him. You must come like this," whereupon 

 he went down on his hands and knees, and crawled 



