No. 39.— 1889.] account of cbylon. 241 



Geis* four miles from Jaffanapatan, to which it is in a 

 manner the key, in mid stream, where you cross it on the 

 way to Patau. 



As regards the inhabitants, some of them are naked all 

 but the private parts, round which they throw a white cotton 

 cloth. Those who belong to the higher classes, holding the 

 position of gentry, wear besides, on the upper part of the 

 body, a kind of fine white shirt of cotton, with narrow sleeves, 

 trimmed before and behind with stripes of a finger's breadth. 

 Their feet are bare ; on them they often have their fontanels 

 well covered with some tin and a leather strap ; others have 

 their fontanel on the neck, and keep it open with a small 

 silver ball.f On their heads they wear a red cap, especially 

 those that are soldiers. J 



They generally have long black hair and full beards, which 

 they do not trim over much, and mighty long ear-flaps, in 

 which are inserted rings of silver and lead. 



* Kayts or Hammenhiel. This tiny fort stands on a solitary rock in 

 the sea about half a mile from Karaittlvu Island, and one-and-a-half mile 

 from Kayts on the mainland. It was built by Antonio do Amaral de 

 Menezes, the Portuguese Governor of Jaffna, a few years before the arrival 

 of the Dutch, and considered " the key of Jaffna." Baldaeus gives a short 

 account of its siege in April, 1658 : want of water forced the Portuguese 

 to capitulate after a fortnight. (See Ceylon Literary Register, vol. V., 

 p. 204.) At present the fort is in a half -ruinous state, overgrown with 

 thorny scrub, and infested with snakes: it is octagonal, the side facing Kayts 

 being longer than the others ; walls, fifteen feet in height and not very 

 thick ; on the ramparts some small rooms (formerly serving for a quaran- 

 tine hospital), and under them a row of vaults, containing rusted cannon. 

 (Ceylon Literary Register, vol. I., p. 24.) 



f Dr. W. G-. Van Dort kindly supplies the following information : — 

 " Fontanel, an issue for the discharge of humours from the body. The 

 practice of establishing artificial issues or sores by means of the knife, 

 red-hot iron, or caustic medicines, and maintaining such issues by means 

 of an irritant, such as a glass bead or silver ball inserted into the sore, was 

 well known in ancient medicine. It would be interesting to know the 

 nature of the disease or diseases for which such issues were resorted to as 

 a means of cure so extensively as to attract the author's attention. 

 Elephantiasis and goitre are the only two endemic affections, so far as I 

 know, in which issues are used by native practitioners to this day." It is 

 possible, however, that Saar may have mistaken the straps, &c, of sandals 

 for coverings of fontanels ; and that the silver ball on the neck may be 

 capable of some similar explanation. 



t Cf. Knox, Ceilon, 1681, p. 63. 



