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838
THE INDIAN ANTIQUARY:
(AUGUST, 1909.
thatched with the dried and plaited coconut leaves (ondjans) or with rice-stabble; the floor is made of earth and wel conted with cowdong to keep away ticks and flens; and the rooms are ventilated by small barred windows. In the middle of the compound is erected, for the storing of paddy, & wicker-frame (atu messa or of bissa) elevated from the ground, rooted, and plastered with mud and dung. The grain is otherwise stored in a loft (atuwa) over the duma explained below. The fittings of the interior are simple : a trestle (messa) which serves for a seat or table; a shelf over the fireplace for keeping the earthen cooking utensils (duma); s hanging raft for mats (mélé); a rack for cocoanat-shell ladles (hendialutd); stumps of wood to sit upon (kota); a mortar (wangediya) and pestlo (mölgaha); a quern to grind millet (kurak kon gala); cocoanut scraper (hiramant); & winnowing fan (kulla); a sieve for flour (pénerd); a flat grinding stone for curry-stuffs (miris gala); a hatchet (porawa); a chopring knife (ketta); a stake to husk cocoonuts (inna); an ikle broom (idala); agricultural implements; a rice-measure (kunduva) and sometimes a clepsydra-clock (pétettiya) consisting of a small coconut-shell with a tiny hole, floating in a pot of water, which gradually fills and sinks to the bottom in twenty-four hours (paya). 10 At the entrance to the garden by the roadside, or where two lines of the building join, is put up a sort of portico (anam&straya), where guests and strangers are received, and which offers a temporary resting-shed for tired wayfarers,
The physical traits of the Singhalese are similar to their Indian cousins, but their colour is a little darker. They wear their hair long, gathered up in a knot bebind and lubricated with oil; the females make use of false hair to give size to the mass and run a large pin through (kúra) with an ornamental head. The peasantry of Central Ceylon have preserved to a great extent the Singhalese dress; the men wear a cloth round their waist reaching to the ankles and so adjnsted as to leave them freedom of limb. While working they take this between their legs and fasten it before or behind. A large handkerchief is thrown over their shoulders as an upper garment, which is occasionally wrapped round their head to keep away the sun. The females dress like the Bengali women, except that they do not bring the apper end of the garment over the head, but simply throw it over the left shoulder, and they adorn themselves with ear-rings, armlets, and necklaces. This homely dress is now being given up, both by men and women, for the more fashionable European costume, and the curious may see this evolution at the present day in all its stages. The men of the maritime provinces bave adopted the headcomb of the Malays. In the official costame of the chief of a sea board district, with his long black-coat (kabdya), gilt buttons and shoes, is seen the Portuguese infinencs ; while in that of a Kandian ohief, with his pin-cushion hat (jagalattoppiya), embroidered jaoket, and a fouade of white maslin encircling his waist, an interesting survival of the old court. dress.
The peasantry are stolid in their demeanour, polite, good-natured and faithful, affectionate to their children and respectful, fond of pomp and high office, quick to anger, intelligent, sarcastic and boastful in their conversation, and kind to animals, especially cattle; they like to lead shedgehog existence, do not scraple to cringe to obtain favour, and, when tainted with the town atmosphere, mistake impudence for independence,
Intercourse between the sexes is animated, as with all Eastern nations, more by passion than sentiment; and polyandry was common among them. This was due not only to the desire to keep in the family the ancestral plot of ground, bat also to the exigencies of public daty. When several brothers on a farm were called out for the Singhalese corvée (rdjakdriya), the law allowed one of them to be left behind to act as a companion to the female at home.
20 For weights and measures and modes of reckoning time, no
(1) Rhys Davids' Ancient Measures and Coins of Ceylon (1877). (2) Ceylon Asiatic Society's Journal (1858-1858), Vol. IIL, No. 10, p. 181.
(1892), Vol. XII., No. 8, p. 178. (1) The Orientalist (1887), Vol. III. p. 75. (5) , (1880), Vol. III. p. 199.
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