Their numbers do not exceed a thousand, and they aro principally in the Kandyan province, at Saffragain, Dotnbera, Wallepane, etc. Nominally Buddhists, they are also spirit - worshippers. Rhodia, Rodeya, or Rodda, in Singhalese, literally means filth. In their social degradation they resemble the Cagot and Caqueax, who from time immemorial have been held in abhorrence in the valleys of the Pyrenees and the plains of Bretagne, Poitou, and Gmenne.
The Rhodia is of tall stature, head well formed, features straight and regular, nose long and not flattened, lips thin, and appearance intelligent. The features and head of an average Rhodia and Kinnaraya are nearly identical with those of the European races. The Rhodia's head is dolichoceph alic. They are Buddhists and devil-worshippers, but are not admitted inside the temples. They are polygamists and polyandrists. They are all uneducated, and cannot count above 50. Their language, containing about 350 words, is peculiar. They bury their dead.
Gahalaya are a low-caste predatory race, near Matelle in Ceylon, who acted as executioners in the times of the Kandyan kings.
Gattaroo, a low caste race in Ceylon.
Moorman is the designation in Ceylon for all persons professing the Muhammadan faith, other than Malays and Arabs. The costume of the men is a long petticoat, fastened round the waist and reaching to the heels. Tortoise-shell combs are worn by men as well as women. In the numerous excesses into which European costume is carried, the size of the back comb Worn by ladies has never attained that of the Singhalese men, who also wear a narrow long bent comb across the forepart of the head ; the lighter-coloured shell is most esteemed by them. Five pounds is a moder ate price for a tortoise-shell back comb, which increases in value according to the size and quality of the shell. Hair-pins of tortoise-shell are worn by the women, gold and silver being substituted for full dress. These hair-pins are among the articles purchased by passengers in the steamboats.
Tho European population consists chiefly of British immigrants employed in the civil and military services or ou the coffee and tea planta tions. Burgher is a term properly applicable only to white persons of pure Dutch descent, of whom there are now but very few in Ceylon ; but the name has, by courtesy, been given to all those who in India are styled Indo-Britons, Eurasians, Anglo-Indians, East Indians, or, now rarely, half castes, namely, the descendants of Europeans by native women, therefore a race of mixed European and native origin. In 1871 they numbered only
5771.
The Singhalese or Elu language, according to Rask, belongs to the Turanian family of speech, hut Aryan and Dravidian elements are intermixed, and in Ceylon a remnant of Buddhists is still to be found who use the Pali scriptures.
Maldive Islands, Zabiyah-ul-Mohli, form a vast group, estimated at twelve hundred, extending southward from lat. 7° 63.' N. to 0° 42' S. These multitudinous islands and rocks have about 470 miles in length from N. to S., and 70 miles in breadth, the islands being formed into large groups which the natives call atoll or atollon. Sir Charles Lyell says the word is Malay. Of these atolls there are nineteen, and they appear to be the summits of coral mountains. The inhabitants are Muhammadans, governed by a sultan or king, and engaged in trade and navigation. Their ships are from 50 to 200 tons, and they visit Penang, the continent of India, and Arabia. They became Muhammadans in the 16th century, but their wives are not strictly secluded. They are a timid, inoffensive people, using a language different from those of the mainland or Ceylon, and they possess three written characters,—the Dewihi and Hakura, written from left to right, and the Arabic, written from right to left. The men are rather short, of a dark-copper colour. They are expert navigators and sailors, have schools for teaching navigation, make and repair nautical instruments, such as the astrolabe and quadrant, and translate into their own language from the English books, the rules of navigation.
The Laccadive Islands arc so called from two Hindi words, Laksha dwipa, hundred islands. They are also called the Divi or Amin divi islands, arc off the coast of Malabar, and extend from lat. 8° 30' N. to the parallel of 13° 52' N. Most of the islands are low and surrounded by steep coral reefs. They form a group of fourteen small islands, partly under the British and partly under the Bibi of Cannanore. The people are of Mala. yala origin, but are now Muhammadans, and mostly adhere to the Aliya Santana law of inherit ance, or that of maternal descent. They are poor, quiet, and inoffensive. They are taught Arabic and Bal-tite, a dialect of Malayalam. They carry on a small trade with all the coast of Western India, which they visit in boats up to fifteen tons burden, carrying tortoise - shell, sea-slugs, mats, shells, shark-fins, cocoanuts, and coir.