The Wichita daily eagle., 1894-01-31
MAY BE THE MISSING LINK.
The Veddas Of CeylOn q Race Of Pygmies
Who Act Like Monkeys.

In print every now and then we read
that the missing link"-the human
being most resembling the ape-has
been discovered, but upon impartial in
vestigation it is always rejected as not
fulfilling all the necessary conditions
The very latest discovery in this direc-
tion has just been made known by two
Swiss scientists, brothers, who declare
that the Veddas of Ceylon fill the void
between man and ape. The brothers
have spent several years in Ceylon in
order to study this little unknown but
interesting race Of pygmies, and, quite
apart from the theory which they
put forward, the facts which they pub
1ish concerning the Veddas are of suf-
ficient interest to command general at
tention.
The Veddas are quite distinct race,
and are more like apes than any other
human beings. Their skeletons and
the general organization of their
bodies are greatly similar to those of
the chimpanzees. The Nedda is the
best preserved specimen of the curly
haired race. These black pygmies
lived in India many centuries before
Buddha or Jesus Christ His
torians of the early centuries of
the Christian era spoke of the
Veddas and described their mode of
living, which was in almost every re-
spect the same as at the present time.
We find in the Mahavanso, the most
important of the Cingalese chronicles,
details concerning the Yakas, people
who are exactly like those whom we
call Veddas; and the Sanskrit poem,
'Ramavana," the Iliad of India, uses
the word ape when speaking of the
Yakas. The number of the Veddas
does not now exceed two thousand two
hundred, yet they occupy an immense
tract of land situated between seven
and nine degrees latitude and eighty
one and eighty-two degrees longitude.
If you wish to see the Yeddas in their
pure state, free from any mixture with
the other races of Ceylon, you must go
to that part of the island. They live
in small groups, or in families apart
from each other. each family having
its own part of the forest to hunt in.
When the rainy season (OctoberDe-
cember) comes round and the forest is
they take refuge among
the rocks and live in grottos. They
are thus brought together and become
sociable; they arrange marriages and
talk about things in general They
recognize no chiefs, know no laws and
are quite devoid of any ideas.
1t has been said above that the Ved-
das resemble chimpanzees in certain
respects; it remains to be added that
they are about four feet in height,
their hair is very thick and very black,
and when in trouble or grieved, they
hang their heads down upon their
breast in way which gives them a
very peculiar appearance. Among them
selves they go about naked. but when
strangers are about they adopt cover
ing of leaves or cloth. They do not
know what beds are, but pass the night
naked upon the moist ground without
the slightest covering. The Veddas
have no idea of ornamentation: neither
the man nor the woman wears any
object with view of making himself
or herself look pretty. Household
utensils are also lacking, for they eat
their vegetabl food just as they find
it, and their meat is thrown on the fire
for few minutes only. One of their
dishes" is composed of decayed wood
mixed with honey. Their only weap-
pms are their wooden bows and arrows,
and their axes which they always have
near them. Alcohol and salt are both
unknown to them. Their communion
ton with the Cingalese is reduced to
this: During the night they will place
n front of the door Cingalese black
smith some honey and dried meat, with
4 rough model (made of leaves and
wigs of the ak which they require.
A few nights afterward they will go TO
he door and take away the ak which
he blacksmith has placed outside the |
loor ready for them This shows what |
/ dislike they have to mixing with |
,ther people.
Their language is very simple, and /
consists partly of Cingalese words SO /
Uttered that the natives of Ceylon can |
lot understand them. and partly Of |
words which are apparently the re-
Mains of some primitive language OF
course there are no family names: they |
ay, ''the great man, the little man."
the young woman" ''the old man."
.tc. They know nothing OF NUM- mbers;
when they are talking OF many persons |!
n things they repeat several times
L.
They, therefore, cann,e say how old /
hey are: divisions i time cannot be
and th> dimensions Of OBJ
ects are indicated By actions When
hey first see a lool<ing-glass or fire.
I'm. they act just as monkeys do under