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



393 



neck, and it is therefore out of the question to talk of woolly 

 hair. It is a comparatively smooth, simply wavy hair, 

 occasionally curly, but remarkable for its length, and just as 

 Palladius describes it, in a most pregnant manner, dKapra kuI 

 aMrpixa. We must here add that he expressly contrasts these 

 smooth-haired people with the Indians (Negroes), whom he 

 calls <ppi%oTpi X eg. Of the eyes, Davy only mentions that they 

 are lively, wild, and restless. Valentijn calls them burning. 

 Bailey speaks of them as " good, and often full." Only Mr. 

 Bennett asserts that they are small, which probably means 

 deep-set. With regard to their colour, I find nothing said. 

 But the statements are sufficient at any rate to prove to us 

 that the Veddds are a dark, hut not actually black, race, and 

 not woolly -haired like the Negro. 



Hartshorne says of the noses, like Sir E. Tennent, that 

 they are flat ; and of the lips, that they are sometimes thick. 

 If we add to this their short thumbs and sharp-pointed 

 elbows, there are indications enough by which to distin- 

 guish them in a noticeable degree from the Oriental races 

 living in their neighbourhood. Bailey calls the nose " well- 

 shaped, though inclining to be flat ; the nostrils wide ; 

 the mouth sometimes large ; and the lips firm, but rather 

 thick ; " — the features of the face, on the whole, " tolerably 

 regular." Sir E. Tennent describes the mouth as " project- 

 ing," and the teeth as " prominent." 



Before comparing this picture with that of any other of 

 the neighbouring people, I will add some craniological 

 observations. By an especially happy accident I was enabled 

 myself to examine three Vedda skulls. I had applied to 

 the German Consul in Colombo, Mr. Ph. Freiidenberg, 

 when he was here, to obtain, if possible, skulls from Ceylon, 

 and especially of the Yeddas. He wrote to me on February 27, 

 last year, that he was sorry he himself could not do this; but 

 that the Governor and Committee of the Museum in Colombo 

 had declared themselves ready to send here as a loan for six 

 months any skulls I might wish to have from their Museum. 



