The grey-headed high-priest permitted the library of the temple to be shown to us, which consists of a large number of Pali manuscripts, inscribed on Talipot leaves, each of which was enclosed between two elegant boards made of calamander wood (Diopyrus hirsuta), fastened with strings, and enveloped in numerous folds of cloth, the whole guarded with singular reverence, in lofty, broad, wooden cupboards, richly carved. When we returned, the chief priest requested us to give him our names, and that of the country we came from, upon which a young priest carefully wrote down with a goose quill on a sheet of paper, in Cingalese language, apparently with the view of showing us civility, some superficial remarks respecting the Novara Expedition.
Besides the pure Cingalese, the island is also inhabited by Hindoos from the Malabar coast, Moors (the descendants of wandering Arabs and Mahometans from northern India, who at present carry on the greater part of the trade of the island), Malays, Javanese; then Portuguese, Dutch, British of the various nationalities comprised under that title; and, lastly, Negroes from Mozambique and Madagascar, who have formed alliances with the Cingalese, and are rearing a numerous mixed race.[80]
[80] What is related by various writers of the practice of "running a muck" (a custom that seems to recall the frightful blood-feuds of the Corsicans), long supposed to be peculiar to Ceylon, in which a Malay thirsting for revenge, and armed with a naked "kreese," or dagger, rushes through the streets like a madman, yelling "Amock, Amock" (kill, kill), and runs the fearful weapon through the body of the very first person he meets,—seems to be founded on a mistake. No one could give us any particulars on the subject from personal observation. Sir Emerson Tennant too, in his work on Ceylon, passes over this custom of "running a muck," without a syllable of mention. Evidently the custom is not naturalized in this island. It now prevails among the Malays of the Sunda archipelago, while in Ceylon no instance has occurred within the memory of man. That this tendency to murder is caused by the use of opium likewise appears improbable. Crawford, in his most excellent descriptive dictionary of the Indian islands, speaking of "running a muck," pretends it results frequently from a monomania taking this particular form, and originating in disorders of the digestive organs.
Deep in the interior of the island, in the province of Bintang, N.E. from Kandi, and towards Trincomalee and Batacalva, in holes in the earth, or under the palm-leaves, reside the tribe of the Weddàhs or Veddàhs, the most savage race in the island, traditionally said to be the aborigines proper, who go about naked, with the exception of a girdle round the loins, and use only bows and javelins, which however they manufacture and handle with great dexterity.
According to one of the various Cingalese traditions, these Weddàhs are the descendants of a very bloodthirsty, cannibal monarch, who, deposed by his people, was only permitted the alternative of death, or of withdrawing with the ministers of his cruelty to roam for ever amid the solitudes of the forest. The dethroned king chose the latter alternative, and thus became the little-to-be-envied progenitor of this rude savage race. At any rate it seems worthy of note, that these Weddàhs, destitute though they are of the remotest traces of civilization, are still regarded as belonging to the privileged caste.
Owing to the shortness of our stay, we unfortunately had no opportunity of visiting the interior of the island, or of seeing these Weddàhs. With difficulty did we tear ourselves from the zone of the cocoa-nut growth, and therefore only got acquainted with two places on the island, Galle and Colombo, the latter the seat of government.
INTERIOR OF A HOUSE AT GALLE.
Galle is, from its position, as also from its configuration, indisputably the best and most important harbour in the south and west of the island, as Colombo can only be regarded as an open, insecure roadstead. Founded in the sixteenth century by the Portuguese, conquered at a later period by the Dutch, and finally, at the peace of Amiens, transferred to the English, Galle displays singularly few traces of its different masters. The streets are narrow, but cleanly; the houses are for the most part constructed of earth, with verandahs, or airy colonnades towards the street, and rooms within, plastered to imitate stone, of spacious dimensions, as is desirable, considering the heat of the climate. As one enters from the roadway at once into the sitting apartment, and as the door stands wide open all day to admit a free current of air, a sort of open screen-work is usually put up before the entrance, to prevent a too minute inspection of the interior, by the prying eyes of inquisitive passers-by. At Galle we, for the first time, saw the "Punkah," a sort of fan peculiar to India, which stretches from one end of the roof of the room to the other, and being swung to and fro by a servant produces a refreshing coolness. Here, too, we first became acquainted with the "Gecko" (Hemidactylus maculatus), an elegant little house-lizard, which, with graceful agility, runs to and fro upon the walls, windows, and roofs, and speedily becomes as familiar with man as a pet-dog or kitten. They usually make their appearance towards evening, when, without the slightest symptoms of timidity, they begin their surprising evolutions, during which they catch gnats with astonishing dexterity, and although they are disagreeable objects to all new comers, one speedily becomes accustomed to these harmless, innocuous, playful little animals, of which the Ceylonese are in the habit of relating many interesting and amusing anecdotes.