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



459 



imperceptible but steady progress, has become Letticised to 

 such an extent that the Courland language has wholly, the 

 Livonian almost wholly, disappeared, and only the Esthonian 

 still offers any resistance.* 



Considered simply on anthropological grounds, the differ- 

 ences between the Veddas and the Sinhalese are not so great as 

 to oblige us to assume an absolute contrast in the two tribes. 

 I will not deny that the number of skulls we know to be 

 authentic, which I could personally test by comparison, is too 

 small to lead to a definite conclusion ; but they seem sufficient 

 to enable us to ascertain whether any reason exists for distin- 

 guishing results obtained in other ways. Such reason I do 

 not find. After having with the greatest caution excluded the 

 skulls which were of doubtful origin, as well as those which 

 through peculiar malformation showed great aberrations, there 

 still remains, with the addition of skulls found in foreign 

 collections, so great a number of useful specimens that they 

 much exceed what stands at our disposal relating to other 

 tribes. 



Comparing briefly what has been arrived at, the result is 

 first, that the Veddas, as well as the Sinhalese, are dark tribes, 

 whose complexions vary between yellow-brown and black. 

 The greater number of observers describe the Sinhalese 

 as not actually very dark, but rather of a chestnut-brown, 

 or brown with a yellow undertone. Percival describes 

 the women as of a yellow colour ; Cordiner and Selkirk assert 

 that the insides of the hands and feet are white. The 

 accounts do not attribute to the Veddas such fair skins ; the 

 report of Percival that the Veddas are copper-coloured and 

 fairer than the rest of the Sinhalese is wholly unsupported. 



But even allowing that a considerable amount of difference 

 in colour exists between the two tribes, it may at least be 

 taken into consideration that the Veddas are naked, exposed 



* Zeitschrift fur Ethnologie. Verhandlungen der Berliner Anthropolo- 

 gischen G-esellschaft, 1878. 



