the island is the kingdom of Kandy; naturally fortified
by impervious forests, and long independent. This creates a variety; the
Kandyans being somewhat ruder than the other Singhalese. It is not,
however, an important one. The really important ethnology of Ceylon is
that of the _Vaddahs_, in the eastern districts, inland of Battacaloa.
They are still unmodified by either the Hindu habits, or the great
Indian creeds,--the true analogues of the Khonds, and Kols, and Bhils,
&c. Their language, however, is Singhalese; an important fact, since it
denotes one of two phenomena,--either the antiquity of the conquest of
Ceylon supposing the extension of the Singhalese language to have been
gradual, or the thorough-going character of it, if it be recent.

Who were the _Padaei_ of the following extract from
Herodotus?[56]--"Other Indians there are, who live east of these. They
are nomads, eaters of raw flesh; and called Padaei. They are said to have
the following customs. Whenever one of their countrymen is sick, whether
man or woman, he is killed. The males kill the males, and amongst these
the most intimate acquaintance kill their nearest friends; for they say
that for a man to be wasted by disease is for their own meat to be
spoilt. The man denies that he ails; but they, not letting him have his
own way, kill and feast on him. If a female be sick, the women that are
most intimate with her treat her as the males do the men. They sacrifice
and feast upon all who arrive at old age. Few, however, go thus far,
since they kill every one who falls sick before he reaches that stage of
life."

Name for name, the _Vaddahs_ of Ceylon have a claim to be _Padaei_.
Besides which they are Indian.

But, name for name, the _Battas_[57] of Sumatra have a claim as well;
and although they are not exactly Indian, they are cannibals of the sort
in question--or, at any rate, cannibals in a manner quite as remarkable.

This gives us a conflict of difficulties. The solution of them lies in
the fact of neither _Vaddah_ nor _Batta_ being _native_ names; a fact
which leaves us a liberty to suppose that the _Padaei_ of Herodotus were
simply some wild Indian tribe sufficiently allied in manners to the
_Vaddahs_ of Ceylon, and the _Battas_ of Sumatra, to be called by the
same name, but without being necessarily either the one or the other; or
even ethnologically connected with either.

* * * * *

Now look at the _gipsie