No. 47. — 1896.] PROCEEDINGS. 



199 



Mr. F. H. Modder said that his long residence in the Kurun6gala 

 District, in which the Knoxes (father and son) spent the early part of 

 their captivity, gave him some claim to speak on the subject. The 

 following are some of the criticisms which he offered : — 



5, 6. These are respectful terms, used especially by the illiterate, 

 e.g., the Veddas. Cf . Tamil sandamama. 



28. Knox may mean dummala, " resin." It is of different kinds : 

 hal dummala, resin obtained from hal trees ; dun dummala, from dun 

 trees ; and bin dummala, from the earth. Dumbulu is soot. Both 

 dumbulu and dummala are used medicinally, and are relied on as 

 specifics to stop bleeding, just in the same way as cobwebs are. 



48. More fully §)ce <£iK>S)qD (oya-ahabada), bordering or in the 

 neighbourhood of the oya. So — 



49. £$$&)d ^«?S)s) (kumbura-ahabada), bordering or in the neigh- 

 bourhood of the field. 



77. saisDssfsa (tambahha), is pinchbeck. 



91. <;£j}(9 (danduliyct) is a piece of stick tied across the neck of 

 cattle to prevent their breaking through fences and trespassing on 

 plantations. Qi-dandu) means timber. 



120. ©cosgd (godura) now means food in general ; bait is (ema). 



132. e)iS)255d^o codeceo (vedakarana sappayd) is also applied, 

 endearingly, to a human being in the sense of the working man or 

 breadwinner. 



133. eadocea (val-sappayd, lit. "wild animal"), used contemp- 

 tuously for a silly person. 



265. Sumbera never used by the Sinhalese for " hat " or " cap." A 

 handkerchief (C^^C? uramdla) is commonly used by the natives ; 

 headmen and other respectable and influential natives affect the well- 

 known " pincushion hat," which however is not designated somberu, 

 though it is entitled to be and answers all the purposes of, an umbrella. 



339. The calachurro, described as a sabre, could not have been so 

 small an instrument as the halla-bondiya ; it must have been the 

 Jcdla-cris* or hdld-hirichiya, a large dagger imported from the maritime 

 provinces. Kdla means deadly, as in kala tuvahhuva. 



400. e)<5iC3(^(3 (varupalla) not SdesQ (yarapala). It is the paddy 

 that remains at the " bottom " (palla) of the " heap " (varuwa) gathered 

 after threshing, and is given away to the cultivator, while the heap is 

 taken by the landowner. 



408. c3<^?§s)as5odce3 (panividaJcdraya) more correctly " messenger." 



477. Read &)@<3>zS3 (balugeia), from chataho, " servant" or "hire- 

 ling." Sanskrit bhrutaka. Bhati means " support," " maintenance," 

 "wages," "hire"; hence balu. Geta comes from Sanskrit gata, 

 " having gone to," i.e., devoted to, or followed. So balugeta would 

 imply a devoted and loyal servant of the king. 



543. Read costfsoS (yahpeti). Mr. L. Nell in his Paper on 

 " The Archaeology of Sinhalese' Gastronomy," commenting on the 

 word as spelt and used by Knox, surmised that it was no doubt 

 intended for Jcoppa-pittu, so called from the shape. It is not so. 

 Yahpeti is a well-known kind of Kandyan sweetmeat. Probably it 

 received its name from the circumstance of its forming the chief 

 component among the offerings in a devil ceremony. 



* Mr. Modder exhibited a fine specimen of the kdla-cris, large enough 

 to be fairly described as a sword. 



25—96 M 



