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



[Vol. X. 



Ceylon, no less then the language they speak, proves them to 

 be Tamils, it remains to consider their social customs and 

 physical feature?. But I do not propose to dwell at length 

 on these points, not only because they are apparent to most 

 of us who reside in the Island, and this Paper has far exceeded 

 the limits I set upon it, but also because, in January last, 

 when Mr. Bawa's Paper on the Marriage Customs of the Moors 

 of Ceylon was read, I pointed out what the requirements of a 

 marriage were according to the law of the Prophet, but how 

 different were the rites and customs practised by the Moors, and 

 how many of those customs, such as the stridhanam (indepen- 

 dent of the mohr), the dldtti ceremony, the bridegroom wear- 

 ing jewels though prohibited by the law, the tying of the tali, 

 the bride wearing the kurai offered by the bridegroom, and 

 the eating of the patchoru, were all borrowed from the Tamils. 

 I also commented on other customs, such as the absence of 

 the purdah system (or rigid seclusion of women), and of 

 prayer in the streets and other public places, both of which 

 customs are foreign to Tamils, but germane to Egyptians and 

 many clans of Arabs. 



I shall therefore pass on to their physical features. Of 

 these, the best marked race-characters, according to Dr. 

 Tylor, 1 are the colour of the skin, structure and arrangement 

 of the hair, contour of the face, stature, and conformation of 

 the skull. On all these points there is, in my opinion, no 

 appreciable difference between the average Tamil and the 

 average Moor. If he were dressed up like a Tamil he 

 would pass easily for a Tamil, and vice versa. As re- 

 gards cranial measurements, I would add that in a 

 famous trial for murder (known as "the Chetty street 

 murder case "), in which I appeared in 1884 as counsel, I 

 had to be in consultation with three of our leading doctors of 

 medicine and surgery (having large experience of the country 

 and its people) 2 on the question whether the skull produced 



'Art. " Anthropology" in Mncyclopcedia Britannica, 9th edition, p. 111. 

 2 Dr. J. L. Vanderstraaten, M.D.; Surgeon-Major L. A. White, m.k.c.s ; 

 and Dr. W. GL Vandort, m.d., cm. 



