“Whilst the Cingalese of the coast have applied themselves to trade and industry, those of the high regions always show repugnance to such occupations. They have invariably shunned any connection with foreigners; and so great, even at the present day, is their desire to withdraw as much as possible from association with the English settlers, that they conceal their villages in the middle of the jungle, and at a distance of some hundreds of yards from the least frequented paths. A rice-field in the midst of forests, or a glimpse of the tall tops of cocoa-trees, alone indicate the presence of human beings in places that would otherwise be thought uninhabited. In countries like these, where nature has accumulated so many of her treasures, the relations of man with man, which assuredly conduce to the happiness of all, are not indispensable; and the natives love a solitude, where they enjoy benefits of every kind in profusion.
“The Cingalese of the hills have a traditional respect for their chiefs, and a deep attachment to ancient usages. Their costume differs from that of the inhabitants of the plains, insomuch that they do not habitually wear the vest, this garment being, in fact, exclusively reserved for their nobles, who assume it on grand occasions; their hair is allowed to grow to its full length, and is not confined by a comb. Sumptuary laws and religious injunctions settle in other respects the clothing suitable to each class, the greater part of these laws being, to the present day, still in force among the Kandians, in spite of the abolition of castes which has been decreed by the English administration.
“The length of the frock-like petticoats worn by men and women both in the high and low lands, and which seem to be the part of the national costume to which the greatest importance is attached, was formerly proportioned according to the social position of the individual.
164.—PALANQUIN.
“The pariahs were not permitted to let this skirt come lower than the knee, and males and females of inferior caste had the breast uncovered. Among the chiefs themselves a difference existed, and still exists, as to the method of wearing the comboy. After rolling it twice or three times round the hips and legs, they form with it round the waist a more or less bulky girdle, the dimensions of which depend upon their rank. The nobles are also distinguished from the lower orders by their extraordinary headgear, consisting of a sort of round, flat, white linen cap, like that worn by the Basque peasantry, while the lower classes merely surround the head with a silk handkerchief, leaving none of it bare except the top. The king alone possessed the privilege of wearing sandals. Prohibitions, such as one against wearing gold and silver chains or ornaments, are still scrupulously observed by the Kandians, who strenuously resist any encroachments of the inferior castes.”
M. Guillaume Lejean has published some interesting particulars of his travels in Cashmere and the Punjaub. It is not our intention to follow the learned wanderer in his rapid journeys across Hindostan, but we should like to draw attention to a novel opinion which has been expressed by him as to the ethnology of the Indian population.
M. Lejean believes that he has re-discovered in Hindostan the Aryans, that is to say, the primitive people from whom the Aryan or Caucasian race is descended. The features of these peoples, our own genuine ancestors, are regular and of an European type. Their complexion is not browner than that of the inhabitants of Provence, Sicily, or Southern Spain. This statement does not apply to the lower castes, whose skin grows darker and darker, until it reaches the sooty tint of the Nubian. The country people have long and slightly wavy hair, blacker and more brilliant than jet. Though not effeminate in appearance, the race is deficient in muscular vigour, an effect attributed by the traveller to the torrid heat of the climate. The women are generally of middle height, with pleasing but expressionless countenances of little originality; their eyes are large, black, and submissive, and their hands delicately beautiful.
In the opinion of M. Lejean, the fine, symmetrical heads, small, well-formed hands, and regular features of the natives of Scinde, remind one completely of the white European race, and allow us to identify the inhabitants of that part of Asia with the ancient Aryans, who were the colonizers of primitive Europe, and who springing, as is said, from the regions of Persia, spread themselves over our own continent and that of Asia.