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JOURNAL, E.A.S. (CEYLON). [YOL. II., PART I. 



tom-toms and dancing. When bullocks are to be castrated, 

 branded with the owner's name, or trained to carry loads, 

 the wise men are invariably consulted to name a lucky day- 

 otherwise they apprehend the animals would die under the 

 operation ; and they frequently do so from the effects, never- 

 theless. 



Houses. 



The comfort of a dwelling must be estimated by the sup- 

 posed wants of the inhabitants. Judging by this standard, 

 the people of Ceylon — and of Sabaragamuwa in particular — 

 appear to be, as the saying is, pretty well-to-do in the world. 

 Their wants are few, and in describing the manner in which 

 their cultivations are conducted, I have shown that they are 

 easily supplied. In Sabaragamuwa the mode of building 

 rooms to form the four sides of a small quadrangle, as in 

 the Kandyan country, is not generally adopted; but the houses 

 generally consist of three rooms side by side under one roof, 

 with the maduwa or grainstore, generally a shed open on 

 one side, placed at right angles at one end. In the Kandyan 

 country paddy is frequently stored, in a round place elevated 

 by single stones from the ground, in the manner ricks are 

 preserved from vermin at home, and for the same purpose. 

 This is built of wattled sticks and plastered with clay and 

 cowdung inside and out, and thatched ; it is seldom larger 

 than a full sized water-butt. 



It may not be generally known that there are owners of 

 paddy lands in this country called paddy-misers. These 

 unhappy persons, like the hoarders of coin, live penuriously 

 in the midst of plenty ; they store up the produce of season 

 after season, they cannot consume it, they will not sell it, 

 or part with it to any one, it therefore perishes. Who shall 

 say the miser is not a monomaniac ? 



The superstitions of the natives respecting their dwellings 

 are various. For putting in the posts, thatching, and light- 



