234 



JOURNAL, R.A.S. (CEYLON). [VOL. X. 



THE ETHNOLOGY OF THE " MOORS" 

 OF CEYLON. 



By the Hon. P. RAMANATHAN. 



(Read April 26, 1888.) 



HAT section of our community which passes 

 principally among our European settlers by the 

 name of " Moors " number, according to the 

 last Census, about 185,000 souls. They are all 

 Muhammadans. In the Sinhalese districts they 

 occupy themselves with petty trade of all kinds, as pedlars 

 and boutique (small shop) keepers. The poorer classes are 

 mostly boatmen, fishermen, and coolies. In the Tamil pro- 

 vinces they pursue agriculture and fishing. In physique and 

 features they closely resemble the Tamils, and as to the 

 language they speak, it is Tamil, even in purely Sinhalese 

 districts. I propose in this Paper to consider the nationality 

 of this community. 



In ancient Roman history the name of Mauri frequently 

 occurs as the inhabitants of Mauritania, 1 the westernmost 

 country of North Africa, washed by the Atlantic on the west 

 and the Mediterranean on the north. They were a nomadic, 

 idolatrous, and illiterate race, and for many years vainly 

 resisted the religion and power of the successors of Muham- 

 mad. When they became converts to the new faith (A.C. 

 698-709) their great ambition was to learn the language and 

 affect the manners of the Arabs. In the words of Gibbon, 

 they were " proud to adopt the language, name, and origin of 



1 Known to the Greeks as Maurusia, and in later days to the 

 Portuguese as Maruecos, and to the French as Marocco. In English it is 

 Morocco, and less correctly Morocco, 



