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JOURNAL^ R.A.S. (CEYLON). 



[Vol. IX. 



44 Beda " district, farther north than Trincomalee. Bergk, the 

 translator of Percival's work,* says that Van Goen states 

 the " Bedahs " had entire possession of the land between the 

 mountains of u Canducarre " in the west and Passara in the 

 north ; while Percival countsf as belonging to them not only 

 the Indians in the adjoining province of Jaffnapatam, but the 

 tribes inhabiting the western and south-western part of the 

 Island between Adam's Peak and the Rayigam and Pasdum 

 korales. 



In regard to these statements, I remark that Bergk's view 

 of the situation of the district mentioned is erroneous, as a 

 glance at the map by A. Arrowsmith,J contained in the book 

 he translated, would have taught him. The district of " Can- 

 ducarre " (according likewise to the map of Ceylon published 

 by J. Mawman, 1816, which is appended to the new edition 

 of Knox) lies at the east of the Island, S.S.W. from Batti- 

 caloa, as well as the immediately adjoining district of Passara, 

 which is a province of U'va directly north of it, and close 

 to Badulla.§ From this the country between " Canducarre " 

 and Passara would be the real Vedda territory, whereas the 

 Rayigam and Pasdum korales lie on the west coast south 

 of Colombo, in the neighbourhood of Saffragam and south- 

 west of Adam's Peak. 



Mr. Bailey,|j in whose time indeed there were no longer 

 any Veddas living there, conjectures that Saffragam (from 

 its old name Habaragamutva) was the original land of the 

 Veddas {hdbara, " barbarian "), and as proof of this gives a 

 variety of local names still extant. He also finds in a Sinha- 

 lese poem, written about four hundred years ago, Parawi 



* Robert Percival. Description of the Island of Ceylon, translated by 

 J. A. Bergk. Leipsic, 1803, p. 337, remarks. 



f Robert Percival. An Account of the Island of Ceylon, containing its 

 History, Geography, Natural History, with the Manners and Customs of its 

 various Inhabitants. Second edition, London, 1805, pp. 282-284. 



% The map in Tennent's work is by John Arrowsmith. 



§ Davy, I. c, p. 413. Pridham, I. c, I., p. 361. 



S| Bailey, I. c, p. 313, note. 



