which the natives dry in the sun after cutting it in pieces, and use it to impart a powerful acid flavour to their curries. The Kekuna and several other trees produce seeds from which they express oil for anointing their bodies and lighting their dwellings. The primitive mode of obtaining the oil is by compressing the seeds previously put into a mat bag between two parallel bars of wood, and catching the oil as it flows into a chatty placed beneath.

Cattle.

Besides buffaloes, which are used in the cultivation of their paddy fields, a great many other horned cattle are bred in this District. The bullocks are chiefly hired by the Moormen tavalam keepers, who at certain periods of the year carry to the low country various articles of produce, which they have collected, and bring up salt, cocoanuts, fish, &c., for their bartering trade; others are purchased for the bandy traffic of Colombo, and the Galle and Kandy roads. The numbers of cattle do not increase rapidly; little attention is paid to them, their food is only what the uncultivated hills supply, with the occasional improvement of what may be found in the stubble fields. I have no doubt that were the natives more energetic, the number of cattle might soon be doubled. They are extremely afraid of misfortunes occurring to their cattle through the agency of evil spirits. To prevent this, once a year they procure a quantity of ripe plantains, which must be grown by the owner of the cattle, and place them with a dish of boiled rice on a small platform made for the purpose in the maḍura (grain store) attached to their houses. A devil dancer (Kaṭṭáḍiyá), who has been previously engaged, then approaches and summons all the devils to appear to him; he then falls to and eats as much as he pleases of the rice and plantains, and informs his employers that no harm will happen to their cattle during the ensuing year. The ceremony is concluded with the beating of

tom-toms and dancing. When bullocks are to be castrated, branded with the owner's name, or trained to carry loads, the wise men are invariably consulted to name a lucky day— otherwise they apprehend the animals would die under the operation; and they frequently do so from the effects, nevertheless.

Houses.

The comfort of a dwelling must be estimated by the supposed wants of the inhabitants. Judging by this standard, the people of Ceylon-and of Sabaragamuwa in particular— appear to be, as the saying is, pretty well-to-do in the world. Their wants are few, and in describing the manner in which their cultivations are conducted, I have shown that they are easily supplied. In Sabaragamuwa the mode of building rooms to form the four sides of a small quadrangle, as in the Kandyan country, is not generally adopted; but the houses generally consist of three rooms side by side under one roof, with the maḍuwa or grainstore, generally a shed open on one side, placed at right angles at one end. In the Kandyan country paddy is frequently stored, in a round place elevated by single stones from the ground, in the manner ricks are preserved from vermin at home, and for the same purpose. This is built of wattled sticks and plastered with clay and cowdung inside and out, and thatched; it is seldom larger than a full sized water-butt.

It may not be generally known that there are owners of paddy lands in this country called paddy-misers. These unhappy persons, like the hoarders of coin, live penuriously in the midst of plenty; they store up the produce of season after season, they cannot consume it, they will not sell it, or part with it to any one, it therefore perishes. Who shall say the miser is not a monomaniac?

The superstitions of the natives respecting their dwellings are various. For putting in the posts, thatching, and light

ing the first fire, lucky days must be consulted for. They consider it unlucky to build their houses from north to south, or vice versa, as these points are called gini kona which means "fire end." They have the idea, that persons living in houses so placed will be continually fighting with each other, and subject to all kinds of sickness, and the house itself will be sure to be burnt down. Sometimes a man and his family will desert a house they have inhabited all their lives, from the fear of devils. In this way they practise greatly upon the credulity of each other, frequently hiding near the house and pelting the roof with pebbles after dark, which, under the belief in the agency of evil spirits, causes the inmates to abandon their habitation. A death in the family not unfrequently causes them to abandon a dwelling in which the family have resided many years.

Frequently in taking up their lodging in one of the temporary buildings erected on clearings for kurakkan, they will strip the bark from the nearest trees of the standing forest in order to arrest the progress of the demons from whom they fear molestation.

Many of the peaked mountains of this district have given rise to legendary fictions, which still exercise an influence upon the natives. The story mentioned in Major Forbes's account of a journey from the Wilson plains to Balangoda is still believed. The breaks in the Peṭṭigala range of mountains which form an important feature in the view in descending from the zone to the romantic village of Galagama, are ascribed to the arrows of Ráma. The mountain itself, at least the upper part of it, is called "God's garden," and they believe misfortune will overtake any who presumes to fell the forest for cultivation. This superstition gave rise to much inconvenience to the Europeans who commenced clearing the land for coffee cultivation, every

cut finger, every blow from the branch of a tree, was looked upon as evidence of the Deity's displeasure. To the effect of this superstition I am inclined to ascribe the circumstance that the upper part of Peṭṭigala, though surrounded by well populated valleys, was one of the few hills in the District which was covered with an original growth of forest, until purchased by Europeans for coffee cultivation. The superstitions respecting this mountain have doubtless been kept in remembrance by the eremite priests who live in the caves at its base.

Perhaps there is no District in which the priesthood is more numerous, or where their influence is more felt than in Sabaragamuwa. It is not my intention to diverge into a consideration of their religious observances; but the various superstitions which I have briefly glanced at, show that their sentiments partake more of fear than of hope. Instead of looking for the protection of a supreme and beneficent Being, they seek to avert by propitiation the misfortunes which they believe the spirits of evil have power to inflict.

This Paper has far exceeded in length the few remarks I intended to offer, the subject affording much greater scope for description and remark than I supposed at the commencement. Extended as these Notes appear to be, I feel that they are greatly curtailed of the amplification the subject would admit of; and those who take a pleasure in observing the manners and customs of a primitive people, will look for many more particulars than I have given.

SKETCHES IN THE NATURAL HISTORY
OF CEYLON.

BY EDGAR L. LAYARD, ESQ., C.M.E.S.

(Read 4th November, 1848.)

IN offering to the Society the accompanying Sketch on the Genus Papilio inhabiting Ceylon, I beg to make such few observations as will explain the plan which I propose to pursue, should my essay be deemed worthy of a place in the Society's Journal.

Little or nothing exists on the spot to show the progress that has been made in the investigation of the Fauna of the Island. I therefore propose to enumerate, from time to time, the various indigenous species of Insects, Birds, &c., giving a description of such as are new, briefly stating their locality, season of appearance, food, and any other peculiarities which may be interesting. In my text I shall follow, as closely as may be, the example of men of note who have pursued the same course, such as Hodgson, Sykes, Blyth, and many others, whom, though I cannot equal, I may at least follow. For the correctness of facts stated, I will vouch; for the correctness of the identification of species I cannot; although, to guard against mistakes to the utmost of my power, I will submit my specimens to the scrutiny of those who have the power of referring to the vast collections in England and India, and also to books, of which no Library in the Island possesses a single volume on Oriental Entomology or (with the exception of the Bengal Asiatic Society's Journal) Ornithology.

1

I had the honour some time since of reading before this Society a Paper on "Collecting and Rearing Lepidoptera