No. 33. — 1886.] the veddAs of ceylon. 



411 



Of the children Sir E. Teiment says they are beautiful, with 

 wavy shining hair. He says a group of children in their 

 nakedness look like living bronzes. The men also have 

 delicate features and slender limbs, are frequently beard- 

 less,* and wear around the hips a piece of cloth (comboy) 

 like an under petticoat, so that altogether the impression 

 they make is womanish. Finally, he adds a notice of them 

 from a Chinese book of travel by Hiouen Thsang, in which 

 the Mongolian expresses his amazement at their prominent 

 noses, by saying the Sinhalese have a bird's beak on a 

 human body. 



This is about all that I find in Sir E. Tennent concerning 

 the Sinhalese. The few paragraphs devoted to the inhabi- 

 tants of Ceylon by Mr. Von Schlagintweitf coincide with 

 this. Somewhat more definite, though very superficial, are the 

 reports of earlier authors. ValentynJ says : " De Cingaleezen 

 zijn niet heel swart, maar bruyngeel, lang en open van ooren, 

 niet klock von gestalt, door de bank wat mager, zeer zwak 

 van leden, geschwind van licham en vrijser ruf tig van 

 geest." Wolf § declares outright " the Sinhalese have a black 

 skin." Percival|| ascribes to the Ceylonese a stature of 

 middle height, about 5 ft. 7 in., and says the colour of the 

 women approaches to yellow. Selkirk*! calls the eyes of 

 the Sinhalese bright black, and says the hair is long, black, 

 and fastened into a knot. The insides of the hands 

 and feet are white, the rest of the body black. The people 

 in the interior seldom shave the beard, but those on the 

 coast do. Sirr** says the men are under middle height, 

 something like 5 ft. 6 in. on an average, and well propor- 



* These statements are said to be found in the history of Tambulus. 

 Diodor, Lib. 2, cap. 36. 



f Herman von Schlagintweit, Sakunkmski. Reisen in Indien and 

 Hoch Asien. Jena, 1869. Bd., I. s., 213. 



J Valentyn, I. c, Bl. 43. 



§ Wolf, I. s., 155. 



|| Percival, I. s., 222. 



f Selkirk, Recollections. London, 1884, pp. 58-59 of Ceylon. 

 ** Sirr, I, c, vol. II., p. 38. 



