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SPOLIA ZEYLANIOA. 
8. Symbols and Offerings .—For about two years an interesting 
ivory object has been exhibited at the Colombo Museum. It has 
the form of an ivory shuttle, upwards of 10J inches in length, nearly 
1J inch deep, with a decorative design lacquered red, and the story 
attached to it at the time of its acquisition was to the effect that it 
had been granted by the King of Kandy to a family of weavers as a 
symbol or certificate of their appointment as weavers to the royal 
household. Instead of giving them a sannasa, he gave them a 
symbol of their trade executed in precious material. On the upper 
side of the boat-shaped body of the shuttle there is an oblong cavity 
to receive the thread and a hole through one side to pass it. 
This example appeared to be unique in its class, although it seems 
likely that an ivory udakkiya, or hand drum, a small spindle-shaped 
double-ended drum, of the same size and shape as the common 
lacquered wooden drums carried in perahera processions, previously 
lent to the Museum for exhibition by Mr. P. E. Pieris (see this journal, 
vol. III., p. 10), had a corresponding significance, although as is 
unfortunately the case with so many valuable specimens no story 
was attached to it. 
I am indebted to the writer of a letter which appeared in the 
Ceylon Independent on September 30. 1909, for some references 
to Mr. Justice A. C. Lawrie’s “ Gazetteer of the Central Province 
of Ceylon,” Colombo, 1896, where somewhat similar instances 
are mentioned. The letter was entitled “Some Historical Royal 
Souvenirs as substitutes for Sannasas it is possible that the 
writer (who signed himself R. P.) had seen the ivory shuttle at 
the Museum. 
The first reference is to p. 464 of Lawrie’s Gazetteer, where it is 
recorded under the name of the village Kondadeniya, between 
Katugastota and Haloluwa, that one Udawattege Punchi Kanka- 
nama had stated to the Judicial Commissioner on November 28. 
1828, “that he had no Talpot ( talpata ), but produced a billhook 
(Icetta) given to his father by the deposed king for land, for taking 
care of the king’s pineapple plantation in this village.” 
The second reference is to p. 570, where the Judicial Commissioner’s 
diary of July 5, 1824, records that Iwedde Mudiyanse of Medagoda 
“ gave his eldest son the rattan which his ancestor received from 
the king as a Sannas for land when first taken into the Katupulle 
Department.” 
The third and last reference is to p. 761. where it is recorded that 
Ratwatte Disava stated to the Judicial Commissioner on October 24, 
1821, “ that the lands at Rambuk-oluwa were given to his father 
by his great-grandfather, the Dumbara Maha Disava, and that he 
had a firelock as a Sannas for the lands.” 
Another very interesting symbol of authority has recently been 
added to the collection at the Museum. This is a devil dancer’s 
rattle ( halamba) mounted upon an elegantly fashioned ivory shaft, 
