478 



JOURNAL, R.A.S. (CEYLOK). 



[Vol. IX. 



only smaller, but absolutely small. But the Kurumbas 

 altogether must be called small. Mr. Ross King,* in his 

 description of the aboriginal tribes of the Nilagiris, points out 

 the Kurumbas as especially stunted creatures, " low in stature, 

 they are also ill-made. They are among the most debased 

 types of mankind." The indices of the head are, in both of 

 the columns just given, dolichocephalic, and indeed to a very 

 pronounced degree. The fact that we have in each column a 

 brachycephalic head is perhaps to be ascribed to the difficulty 

 in taking the measures of the living. 



I do not enter any further into these investigations. For the 

 present I only wished to show that the physical condition of 

 the Tamils, including even those of the Coromandel coast, is 

 not sufficient to represent perfectly the Dravidian type. Close 

 beside them in the mountains of Hindustan we come upon 

 other Dravidas who, to all appearance, are essentially different. 

 Therefore, if one will search out the connection of the 

 Veddas, and perhaps of the Sinhalese themselves, with 

 Dravidian India, it would be advisable to go beyond the 

 inhabitants of the coast and bring the mountain tribes into 

 comparison. 



But even here the researches will n,ot end, for according to 

 all probability the present mountain tribes are not the real 

 aborigines of Hindustan. In the tradition, together with the 

 Kurumbas, the Vedars are called the oldest inhabitants of 

 Tondamandalam (Madras) ; and of them, it seems, it was said : 

 " There were then no forts, only huts ; no kings, no religion, 

 no civilisation, no books ; men were naked savages ; no 

 marriage institutions."! I will lay no weight on the name 

 of the Vedars, which probably likewise signifies " hunters," 

 although the mention of such aborigines is certainly notice- 

 able. Further, in the oldest Indian epic, the Ramayana, 

 we are told of the fights of Vishuu with fabulous Asms, who 

 we must imagine to have been the aborigines of Hindustan 



* Journal of Anthropology. London, 1870-71, p. 46. 

 f Breeks, I. c, p. 55. Prichard, I c, IV., p. 182. 



