No. 39. — 1889.] account of cbylon. 



to worship him carry him under a peschar* tree (which is 

 like a lime tree with thick leaves),! and pray, in case they are 

 ill themselves, that he may restore them to health ; or if 

 their cows, sheep, or other animals are about to bring forth, 

 that he would give them strength and help. They are in 

 the habit of not carrying water from a well without first 

 spilling a handful on the ground, and saying "This be 

 offered to Jacka" For what the Chinese say of their joss, 

 the Ceilonese likewise say of Jacka, viz., " God is a good 

 man, who has created everything and hurts nobody : but, 

 Jacka is malicious ; to him we must make offerings that he 

 may do us no harm." They have special priests, called 

 Bramanes, who can tell, if something has been stolen, who 

 has taken it, and can force the thief to pass a certain spot, 

 whence he cannot move, and must either bring the stolen 

 things back or die. J They also firmly believe that on a 

 mountain which they call Adam's Mountain, Adam's foot- 

 prints are visible, and covered by a little temple in which 

 cocoanut-oil lamps made of yellow copper burn day and 

 night, and wdiither people come every year, a distance of 

 seven to eight miles (Dutch), bringing a little cocoanut-oil as 

 an offering. When they want to swear to a thing, the form 

 of affirmation is that they are made to put their hands into 

 hot melted b utter. § If they have perjured themselves they 

 will be scorched ; if their statement is true God will not 

 allow that even a finger should be hurt in the boiling fat. 



* Skt. Pisacha, the demons or spirits of the dead, has worshipped in 

 S. India and Ceylon, 

 f See note *, p. 252. 



X Cf. Knox, p. 112. This is still a genuine belief among the Sinhalese; 

 the following mantra witness : — " Take some sand from a footprint of the 

 thief, and placing it on a mal-tatuva (flower-offering altar) charm it 108 

 times at the three ydmas (divisions) of the night ; then mix it with 

 daluJi-kiri (sap of the JEuplioi'bia antiquorwni), cover it up and hang it 

 over the hearth. In three varuvas (1£ day) one side of the thief will 

 become lifeless, in 1^ day more his body will crack and split (in different 

 parts), and in seven days he will die." The Maldivians have very similar 

 charms against thieves. 



§ Sin. telen yomen diviruma. 



16—91 H 



