The evening world., 1894-05-09
THE LATEST MISSING LINK.
SWISS SCIENTISTS FILL THE VOID
BETWEEN MAN AND THE APE.
Say the Pigmy veddas of Ceylon
Are the Much-Sought Type.

The last discovery OF the missing link,
according to a German magazine has
just been made known by two Swiss
scientists. brothers. who declare that the
Veddas Of Ceylon fll the void between
man and ape. The brothers have spent
several years in Ceylon in order to study
his little known but interesting race OF
pigmies. and quite apart from the
theory which they put forward, the facts
which they publish concerning the We'd
das are OF sufficient interest to com
mand general attention. The veddas
are quite distinct race and more ike
apes than any other human beings. The
skeleton and the general organization OF
their bodies are greatly similar to those
OF the chimpanzees. The Nedda Is the
haired race. Thdese black pigmies lived
In India many centuries before Buddha
or Christ. Historians of the early cen
turtles of the Christian era speak or the
Neddas and describe their mode OF liv-
ing, which Is almost in every respect the
same as at the present time. We hnd In
the Mahavanso the most Important OF
the Cinsalese chronicles. details concern
ing the Yakas, people who are exactly
like those whom we call Neddas, and the
Sanscript poem Ramavana, the Had or
India. uses the word APE" when speak
The number Of veddas does not ex
ceed 2,2oo, yet they occupy an immense
tract OF land, situated between Z and9 de-
grees latitude and 81 and 81 degrees long
itude. If you wish to see the Veddas In
their pure state, free from any mixture
with the other races of Ceylon, you
| must go to that part of the island. They
apart from each other, each family hav..
| Ing its own part OF the forest to hunt
in. When the rainy season lOctoper.
| ia Inf tod ia
| the rocks and live In grottoes. They are
thus brought together and become so,
ciable.. They arrange marriages and
talk about things in general. They rec
ognize no chiefs, know no laws. and are
quite devoid Of any ideas; 1t has been
said above that the Veddas resemble
mains to be added that they are about
four feet in height their hair Is very
thick and very black, and when IN
trouble or gr,eysd they hans thear av henas thst
1t Is said by those who have seen them,
| gives them very peculiar appearance.
Among themselves they go about naked,
but when strangers. are about they they
adopt covering Of leaves or cloth:
They do not know what beds are. but
pass the night naked upon the moist
Their only weapons are their wooden
bows and arrows and their axes, which
! they always have near them. Alcohol
AT Their ei' communics s ton With the Cinga-
| lese Is reduced to this: During the night
they will place in front Of the door OF q
Cingalese blacksmith some money and
dried meat, with a rough model made
of leaves and twigs of the axe which
they require. A few nights afterwards
they viii go to the door and take away
the axe. which the blacksmith has placed
outside for them. This shows what a
| dislike they have to mixing with other
people. Their language Is very simple.
and consists of, Cingalese words so
altered that the natives of Ceylon can
words which are apparently the remains
of some primitive language. or course
"The great man." The little man
1.-THE young woman" The old man.
&c. They know nothing of numbers.
sons or things they repeat several
times a word which indicates single
thing. They, therefore. cannot say how
old they are. Divisions Of time cannot
be expressed and the dimensions Of OBJ
iects are indicated by actions. When
arm they act just as monkeys do under
similar circumstances. Religion. belief
in good or evil spirits, n fear of death
are all unknown to them. When a
Vedda dies the others leave him where
he has died and shun the place for q
appears. Yet. with all this lack Of in
telligence. they are honest and trust
worthy. They live peaceably and have
no internal feuds, which Is partly due
to the fact that they live apart, except
in the raj my season. The English
tried to establish schools for theil
children and endeavored to Christening
the Neddas but their most faithful eff
forts have been without success.