The Veddahs of Bintenne, 87 



they procure honey from the rocks by attaching themselves to 

 long sticks fastened to bushes and trees on the sides of the 

 mountain, and then, crawling down to the sheltered place in 

 the rock where the honey is deposited, and having smoked 

 out the bees and taken the honey, they pull themselves up 

 again in the same way, and then descend the mountain with 

 the spoil, which they divide equally among their companions. 

 Many of them seem to prefer these pursuits to the steady 

 and monotonous occupations of husbandry. Their love of a 

 wandering life is not extinguished, and they court indepen- 

 dence and freedom from labour. If introduced to the bustle 

 of towns and the restraints of society, they break away as 

 soon as possible to their beloved solitudes and their old com- 

 panions, preferring a life of hardship in the jungle to pam- 

 pered indulgence out of it. I tried hard to induce an orphan 

 lad, of apparently bright parts, to forsake his forest home and 

 come with me to the Mission station, that he might be boarded, 

 fed and educated, so as to be fit for some useful employment, 

 but he was deaf to my entreaties. " When I am hungry, " 

 said he, " I chew the bark of trees and pluck roots ; when I 

 am cold, I light a fire and warm myself; I want no books, nor 

 learning, nor money ; only give me an axe and I am content. " 



Their medicines are made from the bark of trees, roots, 

 and leaves. Some are said to be very efficient in curing diseases, 

 and especially hurts from wounds and snake bites. For fever 

 they take pills prepared by Singhalese doctors. Like most 

 natives, they use charms, and tie strings round their waists, 

 which they believe will remove the disease under which they 

 labour. Of late the Government has done little for them; 

 and as they have taken few precautions to provide for their 

 own necessities, it is not easy to say how long they will 

 continue in fixed habitations, should their crops fail. Doubt- 

 less the aid formerly afforded them was designed not to su- 

 persede, but to stimulate their own exertions ; but the philo- 

 sophy of this they are scarcely at present able to understand. 



