84 
PROCEEDINGS OF SOCIETIES. 
“ He thinks his people live perfectly happy in their forests, feeling neither envy 
nor sorrow at the better dress and dwellings of the native Singalese. His people 
were born in the condition in which they are now, and would be very unhappy if they 
were removed from it.” 
A native publication, the Lanka Nidhana (Treasure of Ceylon), gives the 
following account of his trial:— 
“At the last Criminal Sessions of the Supreme Court a certain Veddah (or wild 
man) was convicted of a murder. He admitted that he killed the deceased from a 
fear that he, the deceased, would at some future time take away his life, as he did 
that of his two dogs, by means of his magic or charms. 
“Three male Veddahs and one female attended as witnesses in the case. One of 
the elderly Veddahs was questioned—‘ Who gave him life?’ He answered—‘ He 
did not know.’ To the question, 4 Who was Budbu ?’—he said, that ‘ he never saw 
him.’ Referring to a Budhist priest that was standing by him, he was asked, ‘ Who 
that was ?’—the wild man answered it was ‘ a Capoowa, or god’s priest.’ He also 
intimated his displeasure at seeing the priest covered with a long and useless gar¬ 
ment. One of the Yeddahs had a thread tied round his arm, and said it was tied 
by a low-country man, because he was crippled in his fingers. But the old Veddah 
remarked, that it was only a delusion, as the fingers remained as crippled as before. 
The convicted Veddah will, in all probability, be sentenced to a few years’imprison¬ 
ment and be taught to read. The jury prayed for mercy towards him, as he was as 
ignorant as a beast. 
“The statement made by the prisoner on his trial was as follows— 4 that the de¬ 
ceased killed two of his dogs by witchcraft and charms, and was proceeding to kill 
him also in the same manner, having made a devil’s offering and placed it in his 
(the prisoner’s) compound with that intention ; that to prevent this he waylaid the 
deceased one day, while walking through the forest accompanied by his wife, and 
after watching them till they sat down together, he came behind and struck him a 
blow on the ear with a club which he had with him for the purpose ; that the de¬ 
ceased instantly fell dead on his face, while his wife, apprehensive of the same fate, 
darted off into the jungle. He then dragged the body into a more retired spot, dug 
a hole in the ground with a stick, and buried it. Afterwards he went to the place 
where the wife of the deceased lived, and warned her not to tell any one of the 
murder, or he would take a similar revenge on her.’ ” 
Passing from Ceylon to the continent of India, we find that, independent of the 
identity of the Tamul portion of the population of the island with those of the 
coast, there are districts inhabited by men who bear considerable resemblance to the 
Veddahs in mode of living and in physical characters. I have extracted the fol¬ 
lowing account of one of these Indian mountain tribes from a local newspaper which 
is sufficiently accurate for our purpose, though I fear that the very diminutive size 
and rather flat features attributed to them may puzzle us a little ; however, the dark 
skin, long bushy hair, the use of the bow and arrow and the axe, are sufficient to 
show that an analogous race to the Veddahs inhabits the continent, and, perhaps, 
an analysis of their dialect would prove them to be derived from the same stock, if 
they are not identical. 
The “ Cattoo Coorumbers” are the aborigines of “ Ryanadu,” or, as we corrupt it 
into, “ Wynaad,” which is a small district in North Malabar, consisting of table 
land, situated on the top of the Western Ghauts, and, as the name signifies, the open 
country, which seems, by the way, rather inapplicable, as it is mostly overrun with 
thick jungle. The “Cattoo Coorumbers,” like most savages of the wilds, are a 
stunted, diminutive race, rarely exceeding four feet in height, very dark in com¬ 
plexion, with rather flat features and slightly made. They allow their hair to grow 
in its utmost luxuriance, and as the use of the comb is not general, and they have 
a great dislike to water, a Coorumber’s person clothed in its filthy rag may be ima¬ 
gined, though any description must fall short of the original. A Coorumber and 
his wife (the women are called “ Coorumbatees”) only possess two cloths between 
them—the former fastening it around his waist, the latter beneath the arms, and these 
garments are never replaced, however filthy they may be, until they will no longer 
hold together. The boys until 15 years of age and the girls until 12 run about 
without a stitch on them, and so soon as a boy can earn himself a cloth, he gene- 
