CHAPTER XIII.
OCCUPATIONS AND INDUSTRIES.
In the olden time, people were occupied according to their caste, but now they pursue any vocation they choose, carefully avoiding the inauspicious hours.
One man works at his field or goes hunting and honey gathering; a second fishes at the village stream with a rod made of the midrib of the kitul leaf; a third slings his basket of garden produce at the ends of a kitul shaft and carries them on his shoulders to towns or village fairs; a fourth climbs the palm trees with his ankles encircled by a ring of cocoanut leaf and picks the fruit with his hand; a fifth taps for toddy the blossoms of several cocoanut trees by coupling their crowns with stout ropes to walk upon and the straight boughs with smaller ropes to support himself; a sixth brings for sale from the county straw and firewood in single or double bullock carts and a seventh transports cocoanuts, salt, and dried fish to centres of trade by pack bullocks or in flat bottomed boats.
The women either make molasses from the unfermented toddy; or plait mats of dyed rushes in mazy patterns; or earn a pittance by selling on a small stand by the roadside the requisites for a chew of betel; or hawk about fruits and vegetables in baskets carried on their heads; or keep for sale, on a platform in the verandah, sweetmeats and other eatables protected from the crows which infest the place by a net; or make coir by beating out the fibre from soaked cocoanut husks; or attend to their domestic duties with a child astride their hips; or seated lull their infant child to sleep on their outstretched legs.
Various ceremonies are performed in the sylvan occupations of hunting and honey gathering.
“Hunting parties of the Kandian Sinhalese of the North Central Province perform a ceremony which is very similar to that of the Wanniyas[1] and Veddahs[2] when about to leave their village on one of their expeditions in the forest. Under a large shady tree they prepare a maessa, or small covered shrine, which is raised about three feet off the ground, and is open only in front; it is supported on four sticks set in the ground. In this they offer the following articles if available, or as many as possible of them:—one hundred betel leaves, one hundred arekanuts, limes, oranges, pine apples, sugar cane, a head of plantains, a cocoanut, two quarts of rice boiled specially at the site of the offering, and silver and gold. Also the flowers of the arekanut tree, the cocoanut, and ratmal tree. All are purified by lustration and incense, as usual, and dedicated. They then light a small lamp at the front of the offering, and remain there watching it until it expires, differing in this respect from the practice of the Wanniyas, who must never see the light go out. Before the light expires they perform obeisance towards the offering, and utter aloud the following prayer for the favour and protection of the forest deities, which must also be repeated every morning during the expedition, after their millet cake, gini-pûva, has been eaten, before starting for the day’s hunting:—
This is for the favour of the God Ayiyanâr; for the favour of the Kiri Amma, for the favour of the Kataragama God (Skanda) for the favour of Kalu Dêvatâ; for the favour of Kambili Unnæhæ; for the favour of Ilandâri Dêvatâ Unnæhæ; for the favour of Kadavara Dêvatâ Unnæhæ; for the favour of Galê Bandâra; for the favour of the Hat Rajjuruvô. We are going to your jungle (uyana); we do not want to meet with even a single kind of [dangerous] wild animals. We do not want to meet with the tall one (elephant), the jungle watcher (bear), the animal with the head causing fear (snake), the leopard. You must blunt the thorns. We must meet with the horn bearer (sambar deer), the deer (axis), the ore full of oil (pig), the noosed one (iguâna), the storehouse (beehive). We must meet about three pingo (carrying-stick) loads of honey. By the favour of the Gods. We ask only for the sake of our bodily livelihood[3]”.
The jungle attached to a village was the game preserve of its inhabitants; game laws were concerned with the boundaries of the village jungle, and with rights of ownership of the game itself. One half of the game killed by a stranger belonged to the village, and the headman of the village was entitled to a leg and four or five pounds of flesh of every wild animal killed by the villagers.