58 journal r. a. s. (ceylon). [Vol. IT., Part IT. 



other nations. Latterly, owing to the sloth and ignorance of 

 the priests, many of the people are becoming indifferent to 

 Buddhism, and while one constantly finds vihares going to ruin, 

 few if any are rising to supply their places. 



A large number of Tamil coolies annually pass through the 

 District on their way to and from the coffee estates in the 

 interior; of these not a few take up their residence about 

 Puttalam or other villages, being employed as carters, placed 

 in charge of young cocoanut plantations, &c. 



There is still one race to be mentioned, many of the customs' 

 prevalent among which are singular and worthy of attention ; 

 I refer to the Mukkwvar. These people are Christian Tamils, 

 and are found, I believe, solely along the coast and to the north 

 of Chilaw. They intermarry with each other and with Tamil 

 Christians, but keep a good deal apart from the other inhabi- 

 tants. In general appearance they somewhat resemble Moor- 

 men. At one time they formed a very influential body and 

 possessed large tracts of land ; but being almost without 

 exception addicted to drinking, they have now sunk very much 

 in the social scale. The Mukkuvar headmen are termed 

 Puijavanniya, and Kumaravanniya respectively, and by an 

 ancient custom these titles ought to descend, not from father 

 to son, but from uncle to nephew. To describe the origin of 

 this strange practice would occupy more time than can at 

 present be afforded ; I therefore omit it. 



I have thus endeavoured to give a description of this Dis- 

 trict. There is nothing of particular interest, but the recording 

 of such statistics is often useful at a future period, which must 

 plead my apology for laying so dry a paper before the Society. 



