No. 57.— 1906.] 



PROCEEDINGS. 



33 



from about 1660 a.d. to 1906— before the end of this year. Apart 

 from the prospects of some substantial Papers thus held out to 

 Members (and others in the general public who ought to take a 

 greater interest in our Society by becoming Members), the Council 

 has accepted Mr. Donald Ferguson's offer to translate the parts 

 referring to Ceylon in the works of John de Barros, the Historian 

 of Portuguese India, and his successor Diego de Couto. The 

 work of these gentlemen was published at Lisbon in 1778-88 in 

 twenty-four volumes, so that the selector and translator has no 

 ordinary task before him. 



The Veddas. 



There is the prospect, too, of some anthropological work of 

 much interest to the Society being undertaken in the Island during 

 the present year. In our first President's Opening Address sixty- 

 one years ago, he asked the question: "Who are the Veddas, and 

 whence came they ? " This has been answered from time to 

 time in the Journals of this Society and in other publications by 

 able Members of the Ceylon Civil Service and Scientists like the 

 brothers Sarasin, Virchow, and others. But I do not think that any 

 one will say finality has been reached. Professor Virchow only dealt 

 with second-hand material, never having visited Ceylon, and he 

 was most earnest in closing his Paper in 1885 as to the duty of this 

 Society and all who could help in Ceylon. His words given in 

 our Journal are: "May the zeal of the observer know no 

 flagging, that, before the utter extinction of this already much- 

 depleted race, the language and customs, the physical and mental 

 constitution of the Veddas, may in all particulars be firmly 

 established." 



And in respect of one of his points, he remarks : " New re- 

 searches and further material would seem to be required before 

 a definite conclusion can be arrived at." 



The Bishop President, in his Address that same year, empha- 

 sized the need of further observation, thinking that some of 

 Professor Virchow' s conclusions might stand in need of correction. 

 Other investigators who have done work personally in Ceylon have 

 urged on this Society, the Museum Officers, and other Powers-that- 

 be to do all in their power to obtain, before it is too late, " inform- 

 ation which in a few years will be unobtainable." One observer 

 concluded that within the present century it might almost be 

 impossible to find a real Veddd in Ceylon. It will be remembered, 

 too, that Sir E. F. im Thurn, in his closing Address in September, 

 1904, remarked : " Far too little has yet been achieved in the 

 direction of Anthropology, and the cave-dwelling Veddas might 

 well receive more attention." That being the case, it may be 

 asked, what has been done since 1885-86, towards what Professor 

 Virchow and others urged on us ? I fear little or nothing. Under 

 these circumstances I am sure you will learn with much interest 

 the contents of aletter I received by a recent mail from Dr. Haddon, 

 F.R.S., of Cambridge University, one of the leading anthropolo- 

 gists of the day. He writes : " We have recently appointed 



D 43-06 



