ed to Pali (q.v.); of the remaining
30%, with the exception of Europeans, the language is Tamil. A corrupt
form of Portuguese is spoken by some natives of European descent. The
Veddahs, a small forest tribe, speak a distinct language, and the
Rodiyas, an outcast tribe, possess a large vocabulary of their own.
The Sinhalese possess several original poems of some merit, and an
extensive and most interesting series of native chronicles, but their
most valuable literature is written in Pali, though the greater
portion of it has been translated into Sinhalese, and is best known to
the people through these Sinhalese translations.

_Religion_.--The principal religions may be distributed as
follows:--Christians, 349,239; Buddhists, 2,141,404; Hindus, 826,826;
Mahommedans, 246,118. Of the Christians, 287,419 are Roman Catholics,
and 61,820 are Protestants of various denominations; and of these
Christians 319,001 are natives, and 30,238 Europeans. The Mahommedans
are the descendants of Arabs (locally termed Moormen) and the Malays.
The Tamils, both the inhabitants of the island and the immigrants from
India, are Hindus, with the exception of 93,000 Christians. The
Sinhalese, numbering 70% of the whole population, are, with the
exception of 180,000 Christians, Buddhists. Ceylon may properly be
called a Buddhist country, and it is here that Buddhism is found
almost in its pristine purity. Ceylon was converted to Buddhism in the
3rd century B.C. by the great Augustine of Buddhism, Mahinda, son of
the Indian king Asoka; and the extensive ruins throughout Ceylon,
especially in the ancient cities of Anuradhapura and Polonnaruwa, bear
witness to the sacrifices which kings and people joined in making to
create lasting monuments of their faith. The Buddhist temples in the
Kandyan country possess valuable lands, the greater portion of which
is held by hereditary tenants on the tenure of service. These lands
were given out with much care to provide for all that was necessary to
maintain the temple and its connected monastery. Some tenants had to
do the blacksmiths' work, others the carpenters', while another set of
tenants had to cultivate the land reserved for supplying the
monastery; others again had to attend at the festivals, and prepare
decorations, and carry lamps and banners. In course of time
difficulties arose; the English courts were averse to a system under
w