230 THE INDIAN ANTIQJJARY. [August, 1873. up boats and counting copper money; the Cheteys 0 fanams, and help to count coin; the Silversmiths fanams, and decorate houses; the Washers 6 fanams and decorate houses; the Weavers 7£ fanams ; the Parreas 6 fanams ; the Christian Car¬ penters and Smiths 4 fanams ; the Heathen Carpen¬ ters and Smiths 5 fanams ; the Dyers 6 fanams and dye cloth; the Oilmakers 6 faname ; the Chiwiahs (Sitiyar) 2 fanams and carry palanquins; the Brass-founders 2 fanams and work in copper; the Masons 2 fanams each; the Tailors 2 fanams and decorate houses; the Painters and Barbers 2 fanams; the Maruas 2 fanams and serve as Las- coryns ; the Pallas, Mallawas, and Kallikarree Pareas, all slaves, and pay 2 fanams each; the Cheandas pay 2 fanams and carry the Company’s baggage; the Walleas pay 2 fanams and hunt hares for the Company.” “ The poll-tax, land-rents, * Adegary’ office mo¬ ney, &c., according to the statement made out on the 1st September last, amounts to the Sum of Rds. 31,640£. “ Having thus shown into how many castes the people of Jaffnapatam aro divided, and what each is bound to perform on behalf of the Company, 1 think it necessary to state that a bitter and irreconcilable hatred has always existed in Jaff- napatam between the castes of the Bellales (Vellelar) and Madapallys, bo that these may not be elevated in rank and the offices of honour one above the other. For this reason the two writers of the Commander are taken from these two castes, so that one of them is a Bellalo and' the other a Madapally.” 2. The Food Statistics of Ceylon, by John Cap¬ per. Mr. Capper states that, “ owing to local cir¬ cumstances, the failure of a harvest in Ceylon means something more than dear food; it signifies want too often bordering on starvation, from the simple fact that in nine cases out of ten the paddy cultivator has no other occupation, possesses no means of barter, and when his crop fails he is obliged, to ward off starvation, to sell his cattle, and then his fields.” 3. Specimens of Sinhalese Proverbs, by L. de Zoysa—a continuation of the list given in the Jour¬ nal for 1870-71 (See Ind. Ant. vol. I. p. 59): the following are specimens,—4 Like squeezing lime- juice into the sea,’ said of attempting great things with ridiculously inadequate means. ‘Though you eat beef, why should you eat it hanging round your neck ?’—if you will indulge in forbid¬ den pleasures, there is no reason for doing so in an open and scandalous manner. 4 A bush near
- Nawasd on the atone. Probably a mistake of the en¬
graver, for nawan masa. f Lit. “ the three Ceylons,” or "Three-fold Ceylon” ; in is better than a fine building at a distance.’ 4 The man who left his country because he was not permitted to speak, found in the country where he arrived that he was not allowed even to make a sign.’ 4 Like the tongue in the midst of thirty teeth,’—maintaining one’s position though sur¬ rounded by difficulties. There is a story of a man who went to the king to complain of the tax on sesamum oil, but he was so confused in the royal presence, that when the king demanded to know what he wanted, he said that he came to request that a tax might be imposed on the refuse {muruwata) of the sesamum seed : this has given occasion to the saying ‘Liko what happened to him who went to get the tax on oil removed, and had to pay tax on muruwata also.’ ‘Like the man who described tho taste of sugar-candy’—is a saying founded on a story which has been omitted in the paper: it is said a man describing the taste of Bugar-candy was asked whether he had ever tasted it. 4 No,’ho replied, 41 had heard it from my brother,’ and when questioned as to whether his brother had tasted it, his reply was 4 No, he had heard of the taste of it from somebody else’! 4. On Paragi, by Dr. Boako: a short paper on tho treatment ofParangi Leda—‘the loathsome disease,’—believed to bo hereditary. 5. Text and Translation of a Jloch Inscription at tho Buddhist temple at Kelaniya, by L. de Zoysa, Mudaliyar. The inscription is on a stone slab, and contains an account of the repairs executed in this temple by King Parakrama Bahu, who reigned (according to Tumour) between a. d. 1505-1527 (a.b. 2048-2070), at Jayawardhanapura, now called Kotte, near Colombo. The translation is as follows:— 44 On the eleventh day of the bright half of the month of Nawan,* (February—March) in the 19th year of the reign of his imperial majesty 6ri Sangabodhi 6ri Parakrama Bahu, the paramount lord of the three Sinhalas, f sovereign lord of other R&jas, on whose lotus-feet rested bees-of-gems in tho crowns of kings of the surrounding (countries); whose fame was serenely bright as the beams of the moon, who was adorned by many noble and heroic qualities resembling so many gems, who was an immaculate embryo Buddha, and who ascepded the throne of La£ik& in the 2051st year of the era of the omniscient Gautama Buddha, the prosperous, majestic, sovereign lord of Dhar- ma, who gladdens the three worlds, who is a tilaha J ornament to the royal race of the S&kyas, and who is the sun of the universe, and the giver of the undying Nirvana. reference to the ancient divisions of Ceylon, Fihiti, J/di/d, and Ruhunti. J A forehead ornament. A title implying preeminence.
