. Ceylon : an account of the island, physical, historical, and topographical with notices of its natural history, antiquities and productions. Natural history -- Sri Lanka; Sri Lanka. 106 SOUTHERX AXD CENTRAL PROVINCES. [Pakt YII. Moodliars, Molianclirams, and other native chiefs, in their rich official uniforms, ^vitli jeweUed buttons, embroidered belts, and swords of ceremony. One peculiar custom of the Singhalese in this district not only attracts the eye of every stranger by its smgu- larity, but presents the most remarkable instance, with which I am acquamted, of the unchanging habits of
. Ceylon : an account of the island, physical, historical, and topographical with notices of its natural history, antiquities and productions. Natural history -- Sri Lanka; Sri Lanka. 106 SOUTHERX AXD CENTRAL PROVINCES. [Pakt YII. Moodliars, Molianclirams, and other native chiefs, in their rich official uniforms, ^vitli jeweUed buttons, embroidered belts, and swords of ceremony. One peculiar custom of the Singhalese in this district not only attracts the eye of every stranger by its smgu- larity, but presents the most remarkable instance, with which I am acquamted, of the unchanging habits of an eastern race. Seventeen hundred years ago, Ptolemy, speakhig of the people of Taprobane, alluded to the length of then- hak ; and Agathemerus, who, if not a contemporary, lived immediately after Ptolemy, describes with minuteness their mode of dressing it. " The men," he says, " who inhabit Ceylon, aUow then' hair an un- hmited growth, and hind it on the crown of their heads^ after the manner of women.'" ^ Agathemerus had doubtless been told of the custom by some Grecian seamen returning from Galle, for this fashion of di"essin2; the hau' is confined to the south-west coast of the island, and prevails neither in the interior nor amongst the people of the north and east. So closely do the low-country Singhalese follow the manners of women in their toilet that their back-hair is first rolled into a coil, called a konde; this is fixed at the top of the head by a large tor- toise-shell comb, whilst the hair is dra"v\Ti back from the forehead, a I'imperatrice, and secm^ed by another chcular A SINGHALESE WITH HIS COMBS. ^ " Toi'C KaToiKovvraq avTi]v tivcpaQ fiaWoig yvi'dininc nt'a^tladai rdf K-f- <pa\ac"—AfiATnEirERUS, Geor/r., lib. i. cli. vi; IIuDSOX, vol. ii. p. 45. It is strange that among the multitude of ancient writei-s who have treated of Ceylon, Agathemeiiis and Ptolemy should be tlie only two who have told of this pecul
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