Mr. B. F. Hartshorne, a Bengal civilian, in a paper
read before the Association on "The Verldahs of Ceylon "—the wild tribe which lives naked in the forest, cultivates nothing, and uses no implement but the bow—mentioned two new facts about them. They never laugh, and apparently cannot laugh, and they speak an Aryan tongue. The latter fact is held by Professor Rolleston to suggest that they have degenerated, but it is more probable that they are the offspring of Aryan soldiers who invaded Ceylon and the women of some low tribe, and were hunted for their ancestry into the jungle, where their diet was perforce changed. Women could not have accompanied llama's conquer- ing army across the arm of the sea. As to the laughter, is Mr. Hartshorne sure of his facts ? He says he asked a Veddah if he ever laughed, and was asked in reply what there was to laugh at? What language did he use, or does he really assert that the Veddah had arrived at the abstract idea of laughter, and invented a word for it, without ever having done it ? If the Veddah has no word for laughter, how did he understand Mr. Hartshorne ?
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