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JOURNAL, B.A.S. (CEYLON). [Vol. IX. 



that the frontal breadth (lower) of the Vedda skulls from 

 the Colombo Museum was by no means less than that of 

 my Sinhalese. 



Of special interest is the comparison of the skull indices. 

 The average ratio between length and breadth which I have 

 ascertained is for both tribes almost identical : 71 -8 for the 

 Sinhalese, 71*6 for the Veddas. This is a highly dolicho- 

 cephalic measure. If by this is proved that all the Sinhalese 

 skulls we have for examination are dolichocephalic, and that 

 among twenty-eight Vedda skulls four were mesocephalic, 

 we might suspect Tamil' skulls had been intermingled with 

 the latter. This cannot be decided without new and very sure 

 material. For our present comparison we can only assume 

 that these important relative measures do not point to any 

 radical difference in race between Sinhalese and Veddas. 

 With both the skull is long and narrow, yet among the Vedda 

 skulls there is a greater number in which the narrowness is 

 extreme than among the Sinhalese. 



It is the same with the ratio between length and height. ' 

 This is orthocephalic with both tribes — with the Veddas 

 indeed even to the border of hypsicephaly (74*9), with 

 the Sinhalese somewhat less (74*6). But we must, in both 

 kinds of skulls, calculate from those of medium height. 

 With reference to the height measurements the ratio is 

 somewhat different, in so far as here the larger figures are 

 on the side of the Sinhalese. 



These coincidences of the main indices are so great that 

 they could not be greater within the limits of a single race. 

 The configuration of the capsule of the skull may, aside 

 from the share of the separate bones in it, be considered as 

 identical. In fact, according to the testimony of travellers, 

 the difference of race is more conspicuous in the face than 

 inthe skull. It is chiefly in the form of the nose, particularly 

 the flatness of its ridges and the breadth of the nostrils, but 

 likewise to the form of the lips and jaws, which are through- 

 out described as prognathous, the various authors call 



