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



incidents mentioned in the Rdmdyana, and when Vijaya landed 

 in Lanka the Island was already Aryanized and divided into a 

 number of principalities, somewhat like England in the days 

 of the Heptarchy. What Vijaya did was to consolidate the king- 

 dom under one sceptre. 



9. Dr. Nell seconded the proposition, observing that one of the 

 points upon which he should like Dr. Seligmann's investigation 

 to throw some light was as to whether the contention of some 

 previous investigators that the Vedda was an undeveloped man, 

 with all the possibilities of civilization in him, was correct. 



A. M. Gunasekera, Mudaliyar, in supporting the proposi- 

 tion, said : The statement that the Veddas had no word for 

 " star " was not correct. They called the star taru, which is 

 identical with the Elu word, and constellation tdruka gag'ga, which 

 is also derived from Sinhalese. The modern Vedda dialect con- 

 sisted mostly of words borrowed from Sinhalese and Tamil, some of 

 which were very corrupt, and contained very few genuine Vedda 

 words. Veddas were the descendants of the Yakkha race, which 

 inhabited certain parts of Ceylon when Prince Vijaya, the first 

 Sinhalese king, came over here from India 543 years before 

 Christ. They appeared to be allied to the Bedans or Vedans 

 of Southern India, the Jakuns of the Malayan Peninsula and 

 Sumatra, and the Yakhos of the Himalayan territory. If careful 

 investigation was made it would be found that they all had a 

 common origin , viz. , the Yakkha race. A comparative study of the 

 genuine words of these races would greatly help such investiga- 

 tion and probably lead to such a conclusion. 



10. The vote was carried with acclamation. 



11. The President mentioned that in a Paper translated for 

 them some twenty years ago, Professor Virchow, from his study 

 in Germany of all the information he could collect about the 

 Veddas, considered they would be found to be allied to some of 

 the hill tribes of Southern India. Governor Stewart Mackenzie 

 nearly lost his life in trying to visit the Veddas, Major Skinner 

 having an anxious time in bringing him back safely. The 

 last Census showed some hundreds of Veddas. He felt sure that 

 their discussion would interest Dr. Seligmann, who would probably 

 direct some attention to points still in dispute. 



He (the President) felt sure he was voicing the sentiments of 

 every Member present in proposing a most cordial vote of thanks 

 to the Governor for presiding that evening and for giving them 

 one of the most sympathetic, as well as practical addresses they 

 had ever had from the Chair of the Society. 



Mr. P. Arunachalam cordially seconded the resolution, which 

 he felt sure would be carried by acclamation. 



His Excellency the Governor, in acknowledging the vote, 

 called attention to the splendid display of unique bronzes in the 

 room, unearthed by the Archaeological Survey last year. He 

 thought they deserved to be carefully studied. 



