2SS 
The Bedahs or Taddafi&o 
CHAPTER XIII. 
Description of the Bedahs or Vaddahs. 
nn 
J. HE most singular part of the inhabitants of Ceylon 
mains yet to be described. It has been supposed that man is so 
prone to society and civilization, that ignorance of them can 
alone induce him to remain in a solitary or barbarous state ; and 
yet among the woods and mountains of Ceylon we find a race, 
who are accustomed to behold the luxuries of the Cinglese, 
and the arts of Europeans, yet prefer the savage independence 
of their wilds, and the precarious subsistence procured by the 
chace. The origin of the Bedahs, or Vaddahs, who inhabit 
the deepest recesses of the Ceylonese forests, has never been 
traced, as no other race can be found in the eastern world 
which coiTesponds with them. Conjecture has indeed been 
busy on the occasion, as it usually is where real information 
is wanting. The Bedahs are generally supposed to have been 
the aboriginal inhabitants of the island, who, upon being over- 
whelmed by their Cinglese invaders, preferred the independence 
of savages to a tame submission. A current tradition, however^ 
assigiis them a different origin. It is related that they were 
cast away on the island, and chose to settle there ; but refusing, 
upon a certain occasion to assist the king in his wars against 
some foreign enemies, they were driven out from the society 
of the natives, and forced to take up their abode in the most 
unfrequented forests. Some imagine that the Jbedahs are merely 
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