riva de cette maniere. Ces peuples etoient les
maitres du commerce de tout l'orient; quelques unes de leurs vaisseaux
furent portez sur les basses qui sont pres du lieu, que depuis on
appelle Chilao par corruption au lieu de Cinilao. Les equipages se
sauverent a terre, et trouvant le pais bon et fertile ils s'y
etablirent: bientot apres ils s'allierent avec les Malabares, et les
Malabares y envoyoient ceux qu'ils exiloient et qu'ils nominoient
_Galas_. Ces exiles s'etant confondus avec les Chinois, de deux noms
n'en out fait qu'un, et se sont appelles _Chin-galas_ et ensuite
Chingalais."--RIBEYRO, _Hist. de Ceylan_, pref. du trad.

It is only necessary to observe in reference to this hypothesis that it
is at variance with the structure of the Singhalese alphabet, in which
_n_ and _g_ form but one letter. DE BARROS and DE COUTO likewise adhere
to the theory of a mixed race, originating in the settlement of Chinese
in the south of Ceylon, but they refer the event to a period subsequent
to the seizure of the Singhalese king and his deportation to China in
the fifteenth century. DE BARROS, Dec. iii. ch. i.; DE COUTO, Dec. v.
ch. 5.]

But the greater probability is, that a branch of the same stock which
originally colonised the Dekkan extended its migrations to Ceylon. All
the records and traditions of the peninsula point to a time when its
nations were not Hindu; and in numerous localities[1], in the forests
and mountains of the peninsula, there are still to be found the remnants
of tribes who undoubtedly represent the aboriginal race.

[Footnote 1: LASSEN, _Indische Alterthumskunde_, vol. i. p. 199, 362.]

The early inhabitants of India before their comparative civilisation
under the influence of the Aryan invaders, like the aborigines of Ceylon
before the arrival of their Bengal conquerors, are described as
mountaineers and foresters who were "rakshas" or demon worshippers; a
religion, the traces of which are to be found to the present day amongst
the hill tribes in the Concan and Canara, as well as in Guzerat and
Cutch. In addition to other evidences of the community of origin of
these continental tribes and the first inhabitants of Ceylon, there is a
manifest identity, not alone in their popular superstitions at a very
early period, but in the structure of the national dialects, which are
still prevalent both in Ceylon and Southern India. Singhalese, as it is
spoken at the present day, and, still more strikingly, as