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JOURNAL, R.A.S. (CEYLON). [VOL. XXI. 



to have more than three colours. A constant puzzle was to 

 determine where white ended and red began ; why some shades 

 of blue were red and why others were white ; and why a little 

 deeper shade might be black. It was really impossible for any 

 European to put an interpretation upon the three colours the 

 Sakais had in use, but to the Sakais they were absolutely 

 distinguished, and the same man would give you the same word 

 for a number of colours. One was white and another was black, 

 though to our eyes it was impossible to say where the distinction 

 was made. 



Another point which had been mentioned in the Paper, and 

 which was very curiously illustrated among the Sakais, was 

 the difficulty of making anything in the nature of a com- 

 parison. After walking all day with Sakais for his guides, 

 and when feeling pretty weary toward the late evening, if one 

 asked the Sakai who was guiding you how far it was to your 

 destination as compared with what was behind, he would always 

 say it was equally far, and when, if you reached the end of your 

 journey three hundred yards farther on and tried to demon- 

 strate to him the error of his judgment, he was utterly unable 

 to comprehend your meaning. To him it was "equally far." 

 The power of comparison might be said to be non-existent. You 

 could not get them to see the difference between distances or 

 anything intangible ; but they could tell the difference between 

 two objects, when it was something that could be measured by 

 the hand or eye. 



He (Mr. Clifford) very much doubted whether the Veddas 

 were really as devoid of religious belief as the lecturer would 

 have them believe. It was extraordinarily difficult, in dealing 

 with a very primitive people, first of all to make them 

 comprehend what you wanted ; and secondly, to induce 

 them to give any information on matters of that sort. He 

 had lived among the Sakai people for extended periods of 

 time, and had become familiar with the tribes among whom 

 he had lived, and he had been able to gain their confidence to a 

 considerable degree. In the matter of their superstitions and 

 beliefs he had always found them extremely shy and reserved, 

 but he had good reasons to know that they entertained very 

 strong opinions upon these particular subjects. He knew, for 

 instance, that when one of their number died they would break 

 up their camp, no matter whether they had planted or made 

 arrangements- for a long stay, because they were afraid of being 

 haunted by the spirit of the departed. When they buried the 

 dead, they presented them with different weapons and other gifts, 

 and then, having carefully enumerated the articles which they had 

 conferred upon the deceased and pointed out how grateful he 

 ought to be for all these things, they would say : " You who are 

 now under the earth go and make friends with those who are 

 under the earth, and do riot come back any more to trouble those 

 that are above you." This pointed to a belief in after-life and 

 a spiritual existence of some sort or other, almost invariably of 



