No. 33.— 1886.] THE VEDDAS OF CEYLON. 



373 



of royal blood, or even as Mr. Bailey* assumes, descended 

 straight from King Wijaya himself ; but where then is the 

 posterity of those Yakkho people to be found whom Wijaya 

 met upon his arrival on the Island ? It is not possible to 

 bring any of the other numerous races represented in Ceylon 

 into a nearer connection with this aboriginal population. 



The earliest reporters who have spoken at any length on 

 this subject of caste in the Island, all concur in declaring 

 that the Yeddas were counted as members of a higher caste. 



Davy,f who enters most minutely into this matter, says 

 that the majority of the Sinhalese were assigned to the agri- 

 cultural caste, to the so-called " Goyivanse," or, as it is styled 

 in the lowlands, "Yellala," and that to this caste also the 

 Yeddas belonged. PhilalethesJ makes the same statement. 

 He explains the word Govi to be Sinhalese, and the word Vel- 

 lala, Malabar ; to this caste belonged, according to him, the 

 Vanni Veddas, and he speaks of two sorts — one wearing leaves 

 upon their bodies, the other using the bark of a tree made 

 soft by special preparation. That the later observers touch 

 less upon this subject is explained from the circumstance 

 that in recent times the distinction of caste has lost much 

 of its significance among the Sinhalese, who even in earlier 

 times left the two highest castes, the Royal and the Brah- 

 min, without representatives. Perhaps this circumstance 

 also explains the peculiar usages by which the Yeddas, who 

 really belong only to the third general caste, have been 

 brought into connection with the kings themselves. As late 

 as the year 1853, the secretary of the Ceylon Branch of the 

 Asiatic Society remarks in a note§ that the Yeddas of Bin- 

 tenna and of the sea coast consider themselves members 



* Bailey. I, c, p. 3,12. f Davy, I. c, pp. 112-15. 



% Philalethes, I. c, p. 332. The name Philalethes is a pseudonym, 

 as Sir E. Tennent presumes {I. c, Introduction, p. xx., note 5), to conceal 

 that of the Rev. G. Bisset. This gentleman was in Ceylon at the game 

 time with Dr. Davy, who mentions him personally, I. c, p, 372, sq. 



§ Journal of the Ceylon Branch of the Royal Asiatic Society, 1853, p. 89. 



