410 



JOUKNAL, R.A.S. (CEYLON). 



[Vol. IX. 



graphs, — especially half-lengths, — not too small (profile and 

 front face), in the right horizontal position. 



In our comparisons the genuine Sinhalese and the Tamils 

 come chiefly under consideration. Only collaterally can 

 the descendants of the immigrant Arabs (Moors, Moormen), 

 Malays, and still less Chinese, Burmese, Aryan Indians, 

 African Negroes, and Europeans, be brought in. The two 

 first-named tribes are so predominant, through the extent of 

 territory they occupy, as well as from their numbers, that, 

 apart from their almost exclusive historical claims, they 

 must be specially considered. 



The Sinhalese. 



They occupy in the main the south and south-west of the 

 country. According to Sir E. Tennent* the inhabitants of 

 the south coast from Galle to Hambantota are the purest 

 Sinhalese. This part formed an important division of the 

 old province of Ruhuna, which was very early colonised by 

 the descendants of Wijayo ; they neither intermingled with 

 the Malabars nor had any intercourse with them whatso- 

 ever. Unfortunately Sir E. Tennent gives no actual descrip- 

 tion of the people. He only speaks incidentally of their 

 build, and their hair ; what chiefly caught his attention was 

 their inclination to an effeminate mode of arraying them- 

 selves. This is especially conspicuous in the way of wearing 

 the hair, of which he gives a picture ; but adds, this applies 

 only to the people of the south-west coast, and not to those 

 in the interior or in the north or east. They let the hair 

 grow long, comb it a rimperatrice, high from front to back, 

 and bringing it up from the nape of the neck form a roll 

 (konde) on the protruding part of the back head, fastening 

 the whole with combs. Even Ptolemy has mentioned the 

 long hair in Taprobane, and Agathemerus asserts that the 

 men of Ceylon let their hair grow as long as it will, and roll 

 it into a coil on the top of the head in the fashion of women. 



* Tennent, L c, vol. II., pp. 106-112. 



