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Show TRUTH-LOVINC VEiDDAS. Aboriginal h Do Nui I, la or Htcal, aad llav Nu t'bl'U or Uoruiuat, New York Sun. The V'eddas are the aborigines of tha j island of Ceylon, and are a very remarkable re-markable people. The pure, uumixed Yeddas are now hardly more than 2U0 or i)00 in number, and they, therefore, cut a very small figure in an island that has over two million population. They uro scattered among the forests on the cast side of the islaud, and ure dillicult of access, because the traveler must provide himself with provisions for the journey across the island if he wishes to visit tha natives in their almost unexplored un-explored territory. About a year ago Dr. 1. Sarasin, accompanied ac-companied by his cousin, Dr. F. Sara-sin, Sara-sin, visited these natives with the sole object of making au accurate anthropological anthro-pological study of them. They took wilt) them a caravan of City coolies aud au ox wagon, setting out from Newara Eliya, whither they bad arrived ar-rived from Colombo. I'l six Uays they reached the eastern fool of ttie Central mountain range. Iu thu plains which slope away from this poiut to the east coast stand two small independent peaks, tha most westerly of which is named Danigalu-hela. Danigalu-hela. It is iu the hollows of thu forest around ttiis mountain that the vrlUge V'eddas live. The plains of Ceylon have, as a characteristic feature, great open grass flats, surrounded by dense forests. The village ve Idas are found in those cleariugs. The small huts are constructed of the bark of trees, and consist of an inner room and a veranda. The natives are not capable of buiidiug the huts themselves, and so they hire the Cingalese to erect them, and pay for their services with the produce of the chase meat, honey and wild fruits. When they are unable to secure Ciugalese for this work, they seek shelter like the rock Voddas, who live iu the mountains, in hollows, which are warmed merely by detached blocks of gneiss lying on one or two sides, and wnich allord but a poor protection against the rain and wind. Three different settlements cf the village Yeddas wero visited by the explorers, and they were fortunate enough to discover a baud of rock Yeddas. Yed-das. Over 200 typical photographs were taken. The natives have a chocolate colored skin. The nose is broad and lleshy, the lips swollen and the chin 'pointed. The upper lip and chin of the men is covered with a small growth of hair. The hair of the head falls down to the shoulders like a dark niauo, and is very unkempt. Their clothing consists only of a cloth rag around their loins, which is kept in place by a girdle of twigs. The village vil-lage Vedilus have to some extent intermingled inter-mingled with the Cingalese, aud have acquired some of their civilisation. This appears iu their domestio life and their plantations, where tliey cultivate grain. I'ho rock Vcddas, however, livo principally princi-pally upon llesh, especially that of deer, swiue, monkeys and squirrels, while they despise birds and eggs. They dry thuir meat over tho lire iu order to preserve pre-serve it. They also eat baked yams, various fruit of the forest, certain ieaves and barks of trees. They havo no kitowlodgo of tho casto system of the natives of ludia, nor of any form of government, since they have no chiefs. The oldest man in tho community appears often to exercise a certain inlluence, but of a very limited lim-ited characier. They possess no form of religion. They appear to bolieve, however, that the dead become spirits, but this does not prevent them from conducting explorers to burial places and helping them to cxhumo skeletons, which tiiey are perfectly willing the while men should carry away. Their language is that of Cingalese, which the Yeddas have acquired in timo, hut they still use a few words of their original language. These words of the aucieut languago present great differences in villages which are often only a few hours distant from each other. The life of Vcddas is of the simplest kind imaginable. A bow, arrows, hatchet, two small pieces of wood for kindling fires, a tortoise shell for a bowl, a girdle for the waiBt composed of leaves and creepers these comprise com-prise tho whole household goods. They buy iron blades for their hatchets and iron points for their arrows from tho Cingalese, in exchange lor honey, wax and meat. Xo traces of stone weapons were discovered, though tho explorers made diligent search by digging in the hollows. The pure Yeddas are characterized by an almost total absence of wants, an intense love of personal liberty, and a marked sense of honor, which reiru-lates reiru-lates their mutual relations better than written laws. Theft seldom occurs among them. Tho higher Indian races are inveterate liars, while the pure Vedda is noted for tiuth-telling. Murder Mur-der only takes place in cases of the infidelity in-fidelity of a wile, and then very rarely. |