184 JOURNAL, R.A.S. (CEYLON). [VOL. XII. 



Mr. Herbert White of the Ceylon Civil Service refers to 

 a pilluma as the distance a pingo-bearer goes without putting 

 down his load, and gives the following interesting explanation: 

 " Pillumak dura is derived from pili " cloth " and inuma 

 " let loose." There is a custom among the Sinhalese pingo- 

 bearers to tuck up the cloth which they wear little by little 

 as they go, and the whole cloth is tucked up to the waist ; 

 when it gets loose and falls down to its original form, the man 

 is obliged to resume his tucking up from the beginning 

 over again. The distance which he is supposed to have 

 walked by that time is equal to a hetekma (mile)." This 

 derivation appears to the editor of the Orientalist to be the 

 only one that can be suggested, although it is rather far- 

 fetched, and he adds that the word pilluma is not in use in 

 the Western, North- Western, and the greater portion of the 

 Central and Southern Provinces. It is used in some parts 

 of the Island in the same sense as hetekma, a mile, or rather a 

 distance which a man can go without putting down his load.* 



8 isbhas or 4 hetekmas = one gavva (a measure of dis- 

 tance, about 4 English miles) 14 



4 gav = one yoduna 15 



and 5 gav, according to Pridham, made a day's journey, 

 varying from 5 to 30 miles. Seven gav, equal to 28 miles, 

 would be nearer the mark. 



" It is characteristic of the people," says Sir Emerson Ten- 

 nent, "that on traversing the forest they calculate their march 

 not by the eye or by measures of distance, but by sounds," \ 



A common way of denoting the shortest distance from one 

 place to another is to say that it is anda-saddeka-dura (anda 

 " voice," sadde " sound," dura " distance "), the distance at 

 which the sound of the voice can be heard when a person is 

 talking, — synonymous with the English word " earshot." 

 Natives often refer to a "loud-talking distance " {hayiyen katd 

 karana sadde dura) to indicate a slightly greater distance. 

 Cf. " stone's throw." 



* Orientalist, vol. III., parts III. and IV., pp. 49, 50. 

 f Ceylon, vol. II., p. 582. 



