Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1875-10-12
THE wEDDAs OF CEIL0N.

Mr.. ,Bertram HartShorne, OF the Bengal
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the strangest existing races OF mankind. IL
has long been known that certain portions
OF ,, ,ns interior OF Ceylon were inhabited BY
organization, habits, and character rs
scarcely TO be distinguished from the mon
keys OF the Jungle among which they live.
Sir Emerson Tennent described them In his
well-knovn book; they are mentioned In Ion
Bstutas' Travels. and have been noticed by
Davy, Percivsl, Bailey, and others. But Mr.
Hartshorne Is almost the first who has had
continuous opportunities OF personally OBJ
serving these curious specimens OF human
lty; and the ethlologist, the moralist, and
the theologian will all find fresh matter for
study in the details furnished by this accom-
plisbed civilian. These Weddas may he di-
vided into those dwelling in villages and
those roaming in the woods; the former being
OF the same stock with the wilder kind, but
somewhat tanned by contact with civilized
people. The jungle Weddas are In everythi
az .ne rude language which they speak;
ana some dim vestiges OF religion and
social order, beasts OF the feid. They
are stunted In size, seldom exceeding four
feet eight inches in stature. with short ape-
like thumbs, long wiry hair, and feebIy built
except as regards their arms, which the COZ
slant use OF the bow renders very muscular.
They have no sort OF dwelling houses, taking
shelter in caves or hollow trunks, or roosting
In the branches OF trees; and they live upon
wild honey, Lizards, monkeys flesh, with
that OF deer and boar, killing those animals
-
Wedda well known to Mr.. Harishorne, drove
bis shaft through a pariah dog running
swiftly at distance OF thirty-five yards,
and could hold his bow string at full stretch
for two minutes without the slightest tre-
NOR of his left arm. Fire they obtain by
friction or by striking an axe or arrowhead
win mint They wear ornaments such a.
beads and berries, and especially prize
empty cartridge cases for that purpose, but
they appear insensible TO the differences of
hue, and have no word TO express color in
m Tod hflla hax
believing that the external use OF water
would weaken them; they cannot count even
by the aid OF their fingers, having no concep-
Is almost wholly absent, so that Kong, an
other jungle Wedda, could not even recall the
name OF his own wife, until he caught sight
OF her, and pronounced IL mechanically v.
They have no religion, temples, priests, or
belief, except vague idea that after death
they become yakho or devils, for which rea-
Son an offering is made 10 the departed spirit
OF Wedda, OF monkeys meat and honey,
that he may not be angry and affiict the
fAmily with fever. 1t is the opinion of Her
bert Spencer that in the mingled fear and az
lection displayed towards the dead on the
part OF savage tribes, we witness the real
germ OF religious sentiment and the origin
OF theology. Yet this benighted and outcast
race practice by instinct and habit virtues
which civilization too often rejects; they
never steal, they never lie, and they never
quarrel. They are as free from these vices
as wild birds, and in their married rela-
lions are as constant as birds are, aud
as affectionate towards their offspring.
Brothers marry sisters among them,
but never the eldest sister; wives are pur-
chased from the parents by gifts OF food; and,
indeed, the "subjection of women is COM
plete among these, the lowest examples
probably, OF that wonderful piece Of work,
man," formed, as we are told, after Divine
image. One curious popularity OF this race
is that they never laugh. 1t is Juvenal who
long ago pointed out that tears and smiles
Were The distinctive characteristics OF hu-
manity, although the well-known line is
not quite accurate physiologically, since
some animals weep-notably, deer. But
reason, and everybody must have felt, in
gazing on the immutable visage OF q chtm-
panzee or babboon, that the creature would
could only relapse his simious lips into a
emile. III you tickle us, do We not laugh"
Shylock says, justly basing upon that ground
OF visibility the common humanity he
claims; but nobody could make q Wedda
laugh. They speak, as monkeys chatter, in a
loud, quick, excited way, and their
couptenances wear much OF the SIM
Peiual, timorous vigilance, ana mel
ancholy combined with cynicism. They
weep copiously sometimes, but never
proyokes in them a manifest disgust. Mr..
Hartshorne tried upon his Cinghalese saw
ages every device he could command TO pro-
turn Of Hobbies, who says that laughter
springs from self esteem: ofAristotle, who
held that the inconRruous and unexpected
gave rise toiti and OF Rants theory OF het-
eronony OF the will, but not the faintest
smile could be evoked from these unhilari-
Gus wild men. In response TO things which
the most solemn Scotchman would have
muscle, and being asked whether they ever
did laugh, answered in one OF the saddest
pieces OF chronological Information we are
What is Laughter, and what is there to la1 sh
about?" Mr.. Hartshorne could not see any
thing In their facial conformation TO account
for this Incompetence; they looked like pso-
pie who might enjoy joke, IL they heard a
good one, but there never was heard Joke,
bad or good, In their jungle haunts, and just
as their left arms have grown like steel with
has faded away for want Of exercise. To con-
vert this sad race, the person TO send would
be a merry-andrew, and not a missionary.
would be possible. Civilization, arts,
sciences, Christianity might all find their
way TO the Weddas, II anybody could once
British association had discussed the best
way of making q Wedda laugh, for whole
race might be reclaimed by this simple
triumph. Would chignon do IL, or q crlno-
line, or q report of the Dollinger Conference,
or Ritualistic service, or a British bishops
full dress, or q speech by Sir Wilfred Law
son? Laughing gas might be tried, perhaps,
rate, is a whole race perishing because IL
cannot smile. And IL is strange to remember
how Characteristic laughter Is Of the Japhetic
and Hamatic families Of mankind, as distin-
guished from the Semetic. Ali Oriental
nations dislike 1t; there Is, as was pointed
out in this meeting OF the associa-
ton, no instance OF happy or good
natured laugh recorded in the bible, and Mr..
Hartshorne added that he had noticed even
Cinghalese proper covering their mouth with
their hands and turning away, when they
were laughing as IL ashamed. Thesame ges-
ture may be noticed in country girl among
ourselves; Ii 10 relic OF barbarism, like that
of the dog, who turns round and round upon
the rug before he lies down, dimly mindful
OF his ancestral lair IN the jungle grass. The
question, where these ancient and melan-
chohc races come from, and 10 what stock
they must be referred, was previously de-
bated by the association upon the text of q
paper by Sir Walter Elliot upon the abo-
riginal tribes of India. Similar tribes, al
though not quite 30 low on the scale OF hu-
mainly, may be found among the forests and
upon the hills OF Hindostan, where the deadly
fever of the lowland and the inaccessible
pathways OF the jungle isolate them almost
like the sea. Sanscrit literature 10 full of allu-
sions to them as primitive "devils" or deitys,
inhabittng the peninsula, and the emous
Of Lanka, against whom Rama and Hanu-
man fought, were probably Gonds and Wed
das. Like their sad kinsmen Of Ceylou, the
aboriginals OF India manifest simplicity of
character, truthfulness, honesty and pa
thence. In many respects they are remark-