PROCEEDINGS OF SOCIETIES. 
37 
in the dense forests that we know at one time covered the country ; their food, the 
elk, the deer, and the wild ox ; their huts, no doubt, were of the rudest description, 
and their clothing, perhaps, as scanty as any Veddah’s. Let us picture to our¬ 
selves one of these Fir Bolgs standing before us with his celt in his hand, his hair 
hanging loose over his shoulders, and his dark skin: would not this photographic 
drawing of the Yeddah be a very good representation of him? 
To account satisfactorily for the presence of a similar race of men inhabiting 
such distant parts of the earth might, no doubt, be a difficult matter, unless that 
we suppose the whole of Europe and Asia to be at one time inhabited by a race 
having the same physical characters, and existing pretty nearly under the same 
conditions; and this supposition, far from militating against any ethnological 
doctrine, would rather tend to confirm the idea of a great Indo-European family, 
though in a sense of greater antiquity to what is at present implied by the 
term. 
To suppose that it was owing to any direct intercourse would not be so reason¬ 
able, though the traditions of our ancient bards regarding the origin of the first 
colonists of Ireland refer to the East as a starting point. That they were familiar 
with India and Asia would appear, for in their traditions the word Taprobana is of 
frequent occurrence; this is, as you are aware, the name by which Ceylon was 
known to the ancients; on the other hand, if we were to depend altogether on these 
bardic accounts, we might suppose that the Singalese were of Milesian origin, as it 
is recorded that Milesius stopped in Ceylon for some time after his departure from 
Egypt. It might, certainly, be a stretch of the imagination to suppose that Mile- 
seus of the Irish bards, and Wijayo, the leader of the Singalese colonists, are the 
same individual. But there is some resemblance in the words Mileseus and 
Wijayo, and all we require is the legend of some enchantress like Circe or 
Kaweni to make the identity complete. 
Laying aside such speculations for those interested in traditionary lore, we will 
briefly explain our reasons for supposing that the Yeddah is the existing repre¬ 
sentative of the aborigines of Ceylon. 
According to the traditions of the Singalese, recorded in a very old historical 
work called the Mahawanso, we learn that the early colonists found the island in¬ 
habited by demons, or yakkos, who had the power of changing themselves into sticks 
or stones, or appearing or disappearing just as they wished. 
The term yakko may be regarded as a figurative expression, and may be inter¬ 
preted in either of two ways—that the inhabitants were of savage habits, or that 
they were worshippers of the devil, or believers in magic. The latter I consider to 
be the proper meaning of the term, as we have a parallel instance in Greek history 
of the inhabitants of an island being described as devils, from worshipping the 
devil. Now, not only is devil worship practised by the Singalese of the present 
day, but also a belief in magic is, as we have shown in the history of the Yeddahs, the 
only religious idea they have. I am borne out in this opinion by Tumour, who 
interprets the term thus :—It would appear that the prevailing religion in Lanka at 
that period was the demon, or yakkha worship. Budhists have thence thought 
proper to represent that the inhabitants were yakkhos or demons themselves, and 
possessed of supernatural powers. In further confirmation of this mode of inter¬ 
pretation, we might add, that the Yeddahs.are not Budhists, nor is devil worship, 
properly speaking, a part of the original Budhis't belief, though now associated 
together. From this fact alone we might infer that the Yeddahs were at all times 
independent of their more civilized brethren, and have existed as a distinct race 
from the time the island was first visited by Wyago. That they have changed in 
no respect from what they were 200 years ago we learn from Knox’s narrative; but 
without resorting to tradition or history, it may be possible to infer, from the very 
degraded state of existence of these people, that they are descended from ancestors 
who were never more civilized than themselves ; for I believe there is no instance on 
record of a race who were at one time even partially civilized returning to so de¬ 
graded a state of existence, however possible it may be for man in his most savage 
state, from the resources within himself, and the Divine impress which he bears, to 
arrive at a partial civilization, which, ultimately, when proper influences are brought 
to his aid, may progress to the highest degree of excellence. 
H 
