No. 5.— 1850.] THE ELU LANGUAGE. 



297 



212 111112= 2 = 1112 1 1212 



21 211111 2= 2= 11122111 2 



How can I describe the dances of the goddesses — whose hands 

 move like lightning, and as if intent upon portraying a mass of 

 pictures — whose feet move after the music with the same ease 

 with which gold adheres to mercury — and who look at the com- 

 pany from the corners of their eyes with the sharpness of Cupid's 

 darts ?* 



The short sounds or letters are called luhu or laku, marked 

 in the Sinhalese thus, — ; and the long sounds, or al\ sounds, 

 together with their respective vowels, with whose assistance 

 they are pronounced, are called guru, marked thus, ^ . 



Three of these sounds compose a foot, and by a diversity 

 of arrangement these tri-syllables produce eight kinds of 



"° The chief accomplishments of the goddesses are hereby portrayed. 

 Mr. Wilson says at p. 76 of the Megha Duta : — 



"It is to the Commentators also that 1 am indebted for the sole 

 occupation of the goddesses being pleasure and dress. That fact — 



to sing, to dance, 



To dress, and troll the tongue, and roll the eye — 



constitutes a very well-educated female according to the custom of 

 Hindustan." 



Amongst the Sinhalese, however, it is different. Except amongst 

 inferior classes, all the above so-called " ornaments of nature," save 

 elegance in dress, are looked upon by the Sinhalese as unbefitting the 

 femnle sex. 



f An <£(^ al letter is a consonant which cannot be sounded without 

 the help of, and being preceded by, a vowel sound, and which has ita 

 inherent vowel sound suppressed by a symbol on the top of the letter ; 

 e.g., I cannot be sounded without a vowel ; this, together with its 

 vowel, produces one compound sound : and they are therefore reckoned 

 as two short letters or sounds, or as equal to one long sound. Thus,. 

 ®<D mama = © m = ©srf man. 



