The Anderson intelligencer. [volume] (Anderson Court House, S.C.) 1860-1914, 1894-08-29
More like Apes than Men.

C0cdte.
More like Apes than Men.
The latest discovery of the missing
link, says German magazine, has
just been made known by two Swiss
scientists, brothers, who declare that
veddas Of Ceylon fill the void be-
tween man and ape. The brothers
have spent several years in Ceylon in
order to study this little-kn own but
interesting race Of pigmies, and, quite
apart from the theory which they
publish concerning the Veddas, are of
sufficient interest to command general
attention.
The Veddas are quite q distinct
race, and are more like apes than any
other human beings. The skeletons
and the general organization Of their
bodies are greatly similar to those of
the chimpanzees. The Vedda is the
best preserved specimen Of the curly
haired race. These black pigmies
lived in India many centuries before
Buddha or Jesus Christ.
Historians of the early centuries IF
the Christian era speak Of the Veddas
and describe their mode OF living,
which is almost in every respect the
same as it is at the present time. We
fnd.in the Mahavanso, the most i'm
portant Of the Singalese chronicles,
details concerning the Yakas, people
who are exactly like those whom we
call Veddas, and the sahscrit poem,
"Ramavana, /" the Iliad of India uses
the woard cape" when speaking of the
Yakas.
The number of the Veddas does not
now exceed 1900, yet they occupy an
immense tract Of land, situated be-
tween Z degrees and 9 degrees latitude
and 81 degrees and 81 degrees longi-
tude. If you wish to see the Veddas
| in their pure state, free from any
mixture with the races of Ceylon, you
must 60 to that part Of the Island.
They live in small groups, or in fami-
lies, apart from each other, each family
having its own part of the forest to
hunt in.
When the rainy season October
December) comes around and the for
est is inundated they take refuge
among the rocks and live in grottos:
They are thus brought together and
become sociable; they arrange mar
riages and talk about things in gen.
eral. They recognize no chiefs, know
no laws, and are devoid of any ideas.
It has been said above that the
Veddas resemble chimpanzees in GER
tain respects. It remains to be added
that they are about four feet in
height, their hair is thick and black
and when in trouble or grieved they
hang their heads down in way
which gives them a peculiar appear
ance.
Among themselves they go about
naked, but when strangers are about
they adopt covering Of leaves or
cloth. They do not know what beds
are, but pass the night naked upon the
moist ground without the slightest
covering.
Their only weapons are their wood
en- bows and arrows and their axes,
which they always have near them.
Alcohol and salt are both unkn own to
them.
Their communication with the Sin
! oo1ase ia reduced to this. During the
night they will place in front Of the
door of Singalese blacksmith some
money and dried meats, with a rough
model, made of leaves and twigs, of
the axe which they require. A few
nights afterward they will go to the
door and take away the axe which the
blacksmith has placed outside for
them. This shows what dislike
they have for mixing with other peo-
pie. /,
Their language is very simple and
consists of Singalesc words so altered
that the natives Of Ceylon cannot un-
derstand them and partly of words
which are apparently the remains Of
some primitive language. Of course
there are no family names, they say
"the great man, ;" "the little man.,
"the young woman, ~ ''the old man, }"
etc.
They know nothing Of numbers.
When they arc talking Of many per,
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 dimen-
sions of objects are indicated by ac-
tions.
When they first see looking
glass or frearm they act just as
monkeys do under similar circum-
stances. :,
Religion, belief in good or evil
spirits, fear of death are all un-
known to them. When a Vedda dies
the others leave him where he has
died and shun the place for long
time, during which the body disap-
Yet, with all this lack of intelli-
rence, they are honest and trustwor-
thy. They live peacably and have
no internal feuds, which is probably
due to the fact that they live apart,
except in the rainy season.
The English Government has on
several occasions tried to establish
schools for their children and cndea-
vored to christainise the Veddas, but
without success.
A. lnaa 4nl-nn with q disaa Sc