492 



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



however, the facts must be assured. The story of the native 

 cats deserves a more strict inquiry ; it rests at present upon 

 the solitary testimony of a botanist (Mr. Thwaites). The 

 metamorphosis of the sheep, however, seems more firmly 

 established, as it is supported by the authority of two wholly 

 independent witnesses, separated from one another by quite 

 a long interval of time ; but it is confined, according to 

 Sir E. Tennent, to a comparatively small district in the 

 extreme north. Hence it appears to me we should hesitate 

 before making an application of these experiences, gathered 

 from the history of domesticated animals, to the savage 

 inhabitants of Ceylon ; at any rate until it is proved that the 

 latter actually possessed in earlier times different physical 

 characteristics. The present state of the hair plainly corres- 

 ponds to the inrXoTpix" of Palladius, and must therefore 

 have been just as it now is for at least fifteen hundred years. 



It is very certain that if we would pursue the search for 

 the origin of the Veddas genealogically we must first turn 

 our investigations to the savage, or half -savage tribes of India. 

 This once clearly settled, room enough will still remain for 

 conjectural anthropology. Even now speculation has gone 

 pretty far. Mr. Hyde Clarke* brings the Kolarian and other 

 further Indian tribes in connection with the African 

 negroes ; Col. Kincaidf places the Bhils with the Mongols ; 

 and Mr. Keanet strikes the Malays wholly out of the series 

 of independent races, and believes the Caucasians to have 

 penetrated in pre-historic ages not merely to further India, 

 but even so far as Polynesia. It may be of service that such 

 questions should be seasonably presented, especially at a time 

 when the dying out of the savage races is imminent, and 

 admonishes us to hasten the investigation. But after the 

 questions have awakened interest, the warning must be 

 reiterated not to draw any definite conclusions until a greater 



* Journal of the Anthropological Institute of Great Britain and Ireland, 

 1878, vol. VIII., p. 49. 



fid., 1880. vol. IX.. p. 406. % Id., 1880, vol. IX., p. 258. 



