No. 32.— 1886.] the veddAs of ceylon. 



337 



towards the sound. I followed suit, and when we were close 

 up we "rushed" our man. He was in a terrible fright at 

 first, but we soon quieted him, and the tracker, who knew his 

 patois, acted as interpreter between us. After a few words 

 I asked him if he was alone. " No, he had his wife and 

 children, and his brother and his brother's wife with him.'" 

 I asked him to go and bring them, and he left us for about 

 half a minute, and apparently without a word being spoken, 

 returned with another man, two women, and two children, 

 one being at the breast. A present of tobacco all round, and 

 a few more words and promises of food, &c, from me made 

 them quite friendly. The men visited me in camp next 

 day, and were very useful in the field, from their knowledge 

 of the country and where to find game. Since then, I have 

 come across Yeddas on several occasions, and the result of my 

 personal experience is, in the main, to confirm the accuracy 

 of the following account :— 



The Vecldas of Ceylon are thought by many to be the 

 aborigines of the country, and their appearance, customs, 

 and language certainly warrant this belief. 



They are of two distinct classes, (1) the village, and (2) the 

 rock or hill Veddas.* 



(1) There is very little social intercourse amongst the pure 

 village Veddas. They are said never to meet for any purpose 

 of festivity. They subsist on the game they kill, on the 

 fish they catch, on the roots and seeds of certain aquatic 

 plants, and on yams and other jungle plants and creepers. 

 The country in which they live abounds with elk, deer, wild 

 hogs, hares, monkeys, porcupines, iguanas, peacocks, and 

 jungle fowl, all of which they kill with bows and arrows, 

 except the iguana, which they run clown, or " tree," with 



* The village Vedda differs but very slightly now from the ordinary 

 Sinhalese villager of the interior. Most of the old village Vedda families 

 have either become incorporated in the surrounding villages or have re- 

 treated further into the forest, and become hill Yeddas. 



