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Package Title: Testbank
Course Title: Murck, Visualizing Geology 4e
Chapter Number: 08

Question type: Multiple Choice

1) When all the grains in a rock are roughly the same size, the rock is said to be _____.

a) well-rounded
b) well-sorted
c) spherical
d) angular
e) clastic

Answer: b

Difficulty: Easy
Learning Objective: Describe clastic sediment in terms of size, sorting, and roundness.
Section Reference: Sediment

16) Glacial till is an example of a deposit that is _____.

a) well-sorted
b) poorly sorted
c) well-rounded
d) Medium rounded
e) spherical

Answer: b

Difficulty: Easy
Learning Objective: Describe clastic sediment in terms of size, sorting, and roundness.
Section Reference: Sediment

17) A deposit with large clasts at the base that become finer upwards is known as a _____.

a) ripple marks
b) mudcracks
c) oxidation
d) graded bed
e) calcareous ooze

Answer: d
Difficulty: Easy
Learning Objective: Describe clastic sediment in terms of size, sorting, and roundness.
Section Reference: Sediment

13) A _____ is a wave-resistant structure that is built from marine invertebrates.

a) turbidite
b) pyroclast
c) banded iron formation
d) reef
e) None of the choices are correct.

Answer: d

Difficulty: Easy
Learning Objective: Explain where and how biogenic sediment is formed.
Section Reference: Sediment

4) Sediment that is carried and deposited by the wind is known as _____ sediment.

a) alluvial
b) estuarian
c) calcareousl
d) turbidity
e) eolian

Answer: e

Difficulty: Easy
Learning Objective: Define deposition and describe the conditions that commonly lead to
deposition of sediment.
Section Reference: Depositional Environments

18) Seasonal lakes, or _____, are common in arid areas.

a) alluvial fans
b) evaporites
c) playas
d) loess
e) banded iron formations

Answer: c
Difficulty: Easy
Learning Objective: Describe the principal environments where deposition takes place on land.
Section Reference: Depositional Environments

8) A _____ is a sedimentary deposit that forms where a stream enters a standing body of water.

a) delta
b) turbidite
c) reef
d) back arc basin
e) banded iron formation

Answer: a

Difficulty: Easy
Learning Objective: Describe the principal environments where deposition takes place in and
near the ocean.
Section Reference: Depositional Environments

15) A turbulent, gravity driven flow consisting of water and sediment is known as a _____.

a) evaporite
b) alluvial fan
c) turbidity current
d) continental shelf
e) calcareous ooze

Answer: c

Difficulty: Easy
Learning Objective: Describe the principal environments where deposition takes place in and
near the ocean.
Section Reference: Depositional Environments

21) Most of the world's sedimentary rocks form as strata in which of the following
environments?

a) continental shelves
b) reefs
c) beaches
d) marine evaporite basins
e) deserts
Answer: a

Difficulty: Easy
Learning Objective: Describe the principal environments where deposition takes place in and
near the ocean.
Section Reference: Depositional Environments

3) What is the sedimentary structure shown in the figure below?

a) ripple marks
b) mud cracks
c) footprints
d) cross beds
e) banded iron formation

Answer: d

Difficulty: Easy
Learning Objective: Relate the appearance of sedimentary rock to its mode of formation.
Section Reference: Sedimentary Rock

2) The group of processes that transform sediments into rock is known as _____.

a) compaction
b) transportation
c) diagenesis
d) oxidation
e) lithification

Answer: e

Difficulty: Easy
Learning Objective: Summarize three processes that lead to the lithification of sediment.
Section Reference: Sedimentary Rock

10) When gravel becomes lithified, _____ is formed.

a) conglomerate
b) shale
c) sandstone
d) siltstone
e) evaporite

Answer: a

Difficulty: Easy
Learning Objective: Summarize three processes that lead to the lithification of sediment.
Section Reference: Sedimentary Rock

12) _____ is the reduction of pore space in sediment as a result of the weight of the overlying
sediments.

a) evaporation
b) compaction
c) cementation
d) lithification
e) accretion

Answer: b

Difficulty: Easy
Learning Objective: Summarize three processes that lead to the lithification of sediment.
Section Reference: Sedimentary Rock

14) Which of the following describes a fine-grained, fissile rock consisting primarily of clay
particles?

a) conglomerate
b) sandstone
c) siltstone
d) peat
e) shale

Answer: e

Difficulty: Easy
Learning Objective: Summarize three processes that lead to the lithification of sediment.
Section Reference: Sedimentary Rock
22) A fine-grained sedimentary rock lacking distinct bedding is known as _____.

a) sandstone
b) breccia
c) conglomerate
d) mudstone
e) coal

Answer: d

Difficulty: Easy
Learning Objective: Identify the most common clastic, chemical, and biogenic sedimentary rock
types.
Section Reference: Sedimentary Rock

19) A biogenic sediment that forms from the accumulation of plant debris is known as _____.

a) calcite
b) loess
c) sandstone
d) mudstone
e) peat

Answer: e

Difficulty: Easy
Learning Objective: Identify the most common clastic, chemical, and biogenic sedimentary rock
types.
Section Reference: Sedimentary Rock

20) Which of the following is a category of sedimentary rocks formed by the precipitation of
minerals dissolved in a lake, river, or seawater?

a) clastic
b) biogenic
c) chemical
d) turbidites
e) diagenetic

Answer: c

Difficulty: Easy
Learning Objective: Identify the most common clastic, chemical, and biogenic sedimentary rock
types.
Section Reference: Sedimentary Rock

7) A sedimentary rock formed by the evaporation of lake or seawater is known as a(n) _____.

a) sandstone
b) shale
c) eolianite
d) turbidite
e) evaporite

Answer: e

Difficulty: Easy
Learning Objective: Identify the most common clastic, chemical, and biogenic sedimentary rock
types.
Section Reference: Sedimentary Rock

5) The figure below shows what type of sedimentary rock?

a) clastic
b) biogenic
c) chemical
d) evaporitic
e) None of the choices are correct.

Answer: b

Difficulty: Easy
Learning Objective: Identify the most common clastic, chemical, and biogenic sedimentary rock
types.
Section Reference: Sedimentary Rock
6) _____ is the type of sedimentary structure in the figure below.

a) ripple marks
b) mud cracks
c) footprints
d) cross beds
e) banded iron formation

Answer: a

Difficulty: Easy
Learning Objective: Explain how features such as ripple marks, cracks, and fossils can tell
geologists about the environment in which a rock originated.
Section Reference: Sedimentary Rock

9) In the figure below, _____ are formed in wet and dry environments.
a) ripple marks
b) mud cracks
c) footprints
d) cross beds
e) banded iron formation

Answer: b

Difficulty: Easy
Learning Objective: Explain how features such as ripple marks, cracks, and fossils can tell
geologists about the environment in which a rock originated.
Section Reference: Sedimentary Rock

11) The figure below shows a good example of which type of sedimentary structure?

a) ripple marks
b) mud cracks
c) footprints
d) cross beds
e) banded iron formation

Answer: c

Difficulty: Easy
Learning Objective: Explain how features such as ripple marks, cracks, and fossils can tell
geologists about the environment in which a rock originated.
Section Reference: Sedimentary Rock

Question type: True/False

23) The figure below shows sediment that is poorly sorted.

Answer: True

Difficulty: Easy
Learning Objective: Describe clastic sediment in terms of size, sorting and roundness.
Section Reference: Sediment
24) The figure below shows sediment that is poorly sorted.

Answer: False

Difficulty: Easy
Learning Objective: Describe clastic sediment in terms of size, sorting, and roundness.
Section Reference: Sediment

43) Quartz grains tend to have high sphericity and roundness.

Answer: True

Difficulty: Easy
Learning Objective: Describe clastic sediment in terms of size, sorting, and roundness.
Section Reference: Sediment

27) A semi-enclosed body of coastal water where fresh water mixes with marine water is known
as a delta.

Answer: False

Difficulty: Easy
Learning Objective: Describe the principal environments where deposition takes place on land.
Section Reference: Depositional Environments

40) Loess is an eolian sediment.

Answer: True
Difficulty: Easy
Learning Objective: Describe the principal environments where deposition takes place on land.
Section Reference: Depositional Environments

41) Marine evaporite basins form in coastal areas with hot and arid climates.

Answer: True

Difficulty: Easy
Learning Objective: Describe the principal environments where deposition takes place in and
near the ocean.
Section Reference: Depositional Environments

42) Till is an example of sediment that has angular grains and high sphericity.

Answer: False

Difficulty: Easy
Learning Objective: Relate the appearance of sedimentary rock to its mode of formation.
Section Reference: Sedimentary Rock

28) The figure below shows an excellent example of bedding.

Answer: True

Difficulty: Easy
Learning Objective: Relate the appearance of a sedimentary rock to its mode of formation.
Section Reference: Sedimentary Rock
36) Clastic sediments can be volcanic in origin.

Answer: True

Difficulty: Easy
Learning Objective: Identify the most common clastic, chemical and biogenic sedimentary rock
types.
Section Reference: Sedimentary Rock

37) Sandstone results from the lithification of clay-size grains.

Answer: False

Difficulty: Easy
Learning Objective: Identify the most common clastic, chemical, and biogenic sedimentary rock
types.
Section Reference: Sedimentary Rock

38) Coal is classified as a chemical sedimentary rock.

Answer: False

Difficulty: Easy
Learning Objective: Identify the most common clastic, chemical, and biogenic sedimentary rock
types.
Section Reference: Sedimentary Rock

32) If peat is subjected to increasing heat and pressure due to deeper burial, it may become coal.

Answer: True

Difficulty: Easy
Learning Objective: Identify the most common clastic, chemical, and biogenic sedimentary rock
types.
Section Reference: Sedimentary Rock

33) A mudstone contains a higher proportion of clay-size grains than silt-size grains.

Answer: False

Difficulty: Easy
Learning Objective: Identify the most common clastic, chemical, and biogenic sedimentary rock
types.
Section Reference: Sedimentary Rock

29) The figure below shows a sedimentary structure that is formed by wind.

Answer: False

Difficulty: Medium
Learning Objective: Identify the most common clastic, chemical, and biogenic sedimentary rock
types.
Section Reference: Sedimentary Rock

30) Breccia is a clastic sedimentary rock composed primarily of angular, gravel-size clasts.

Answer: True

Difficulty: Easy
Learning Objective: Identify the most common clastic, chemical, and biogenic sedimentary rock
types.
Section Reference: Sedimentary Rock

25) Banded iron formations are almost all approximately 1.8–2.5 million years old.

Answer: True

Difficulty: Easy
Learning Objective: Identify the most common clastic, chemical, and biogenic sedimentary rock
types.
Section Reference: Sedimentary Rock
26) Mudcracks are sedimentary structures formed in wet/dry environments.

Answer: True

Difficulty: Easy
Learning Objective: Explain how features such as ripple marks, cracks, and fossils can tell
geologists about the environment in which a rock originated.
Section Reference: Sedimentary Rock

31) Cross-bedding can form from turbidites, with the large grains deposited on the bottom and
the fine grains at the top.

Answer: False

Difficulty: Medium
Learning Objective: Explain how features such as ripples marks, cracks, and fossils can tell
geologists about the environment in which a rock originated.
Section Reference: Sedimentary Rock

39) Fossilized footprints provide inferences about depositional environment.

Answer: True

Difficulty: Easy
Learning Objective: Explain how features such as ripple marks, cracks, and fossils can tell
geologists about the environment in which a rock originated.
Section Reference: Sedimentary Rock

44) Ophiolites expose oceanic crust and underlying mantle at the surface.

Answer: True

Difficulty: Easy
Learning Objection: Describe how and why sediment accumulates in subduction zones at
convergent plate margins.
Section Reference: How plate tectonics affects sedimentation
34) In the figure below, a convergent plate boundary contains a sedimentary wedge.

Answer: True

Difficulty: Easy
Learning Objection: Describe how and why sediment accumulates in subduction zones at
convergent plate boundaries.
Section Reference: How plate tectonics affects sedimentation
35) In the figure below, the accretionary wedge is associated with a divergent plate boundary

Answer: False

Difficulty: Easy
Learning Objection: Describe how and why sediment accumulates in subduction zones at
convergent plate boundaries.
Section Reference: How plate tectonics affects sedimentation

Question type: Fill-In-The-Blank

47) Since all the grains in the figure below are roughly the same size, the sediment can be said to
be _____.

Answer: well sorted

Difficulty: Easy
Learning Objective: Describe clastic sediment in terms of size, sorting, and roundness.
Section Reference: Sediment

51) _____ are volcanogenic sediments that are still hot when they form.

Answer: Pyroclasts

Difficulty: Easy
Learning Objective: Describe clastic sediment in terms of size, sorting, and roundness,
Section Reference: Sediment
49) A _____ sedimentary rock is represented in the figure below.

Answer: chemical

Difficulty: Easy
Learning Objective: Explain where and how chemical sediment is formed.
Section Reference: Sediment
50) The figure below shows an example of a _____ sediment.

Answer: biogenic

Difficulty: Medium
Learning Objective: Explain where and how biogenic sediment is formed.
Section Reference: Sediment

57) _____ processes are those referring to the wind.

Answer: Eolian

Difficulty: Easy
Learning Objective: Describe the principal environments where deposition takes place on land.
Section Reference: Depositional Environments

55) Most of the sediment on land is transported by _____.

Answer: streams

Difficulty: Easy
Learning Objective: Describe the principal environments where deposition takes place on land. .
Section Reference: Depositional Environments

56) Seasonal lakes that form in arid areas are known as _____.
Answer: playas

Difficulty: Easy
Learning Objective: Describe the principal environments where deposition takes place on land.
Section Reference: Depositional Environments

48) A fine-grained, light-brown, wind-blown sediment is known as _____.

Answer: loess

Difficulty: Easy
Learning Objective: Describe the principal environments where deposition takes place on land.
Section Reference: Depositional Environments

53) A _____ is the type of depositional environment shown below, which can be found in warm
oceanic areas.

Answer: carbonate shelf

Difficulty: Medium.
Learning Objective: Describe the principal environments where deposition takes place in and
near the ocean.
Section Reference: Depositional Environments
54) In the figure below, a(n) _____ is an area where a freshwater stream meets the ocean.

Answer: estuary

Difficulty: Easy
Learning Objective: Describe the principal environments where deposition takes place in and
near the ocean.
Section Reference: Depositional Environments

45) In the figure below, a _____ is formed when a stream enters a standing body of water.

Answer: delta

Difficulty: Easy
Learning Objective: Describe the principal environments where deposition takes place in and
near the ocean.
Section Reference: Depositional Environments

64) A _____ is a sedimentary structure that forms when a stream enters a standing body of water.

Answer: delta

Difficulty: Easy
Learning Objective: Describe the principal environments where deposition takes place in and
near the ocean.
Section Reference: Depositional Environments

60) The iron in the red parts of banded iron formation is red because it has been _____.

Answer: oxidized

Difficulty: Medium
Learning Objective: Relate the appearance of sedimentary rock to its mode of formation.
Section Reference: Sedimentary Rock

46) The top or bottom of a rock stratum is called the _____.

Answer: bedding surface

Difficulty: Easy
Learning Objective: Relate the appearance of sedimentary rock to its mode of formation.
Section Reference: Sedimentary Rock

52) _____ is the process in which substances dissolved in pore water are precipitated out and join
grains together.

Answer: Cementation

Difficulty: Easy
Learning Objective: Summarize the three processes that lead to the lithification of sediment.
Section Reference: Sedimentary Rock

62) _____ is the reduction of pore space in a rock due to the weight of the overlying sediment.

Answer: Compaction
Difficulty: Easy
Learning Objective: Summarize the three processes that lead to the lithification of sediment.
Section Reference: Sedimentary Rock

63) Silt, when lithified, forms _____.

Answer: siltstone

Difficulty: Easy
Learning Objective: Identify the most common clastic, chemical, and biogenic rock types.
Section Reference: Sedimentary Rock

61) The Bonneville Salt Flats in Utah are primarily composed of _____ sediments.

Answer: chemical

Difficulty: Easy
Learning Objective: Identify the most common clastic, chemical, and biogenic sedimentary rock
types.
Section Reference: Sedimentary Rock

58) The changes in the characteristics of sediment from one environment to another are
collectively known as _____.

Answer: sedimentary facies

Difficulty: Easy
Learning Objective: Describe the concept of sedimentary facies.
Section Reference: Sedimentary Rock

59) The _____ is an example of a divergent boundary where a new ocean is forming between
Africa and Arabia.

Answer: Red Sea

Difficulty: Easy
Learning Objection: Explain how divergent plate boundaries influence sedimentation.
Section Reference: How plate tectonics affects sedimentation
Question type: Essay

65) Explain the differences between sorting and roundness.

Answer: Sorting refers to the range of sediment grain sizes in a rock. A well-sorted rock or
sediment is one in which the grain sizes are predominantly the same, whereas a poorly sorted
rock or sediment is one that contains a wide range of particle sizes. Roundness refers to how
close the grains are to being perfectly spherical. The range of roundness is from angular to round.

Difficulty: Easy
Learning Objective: Describe clastic sediment in terms of size, sorting, and roundness. .
Section Reference: Sediment

72) Explain how a turbidity current forms a graded bed.

Answer: A turbidity current is a gravity-driven flow composed of a mixture of sediment and

water. As the flow starts to slow down and lose energy, the largest particles drop out first. As the
flow continues to slow, smaller and smaller grain sizes drop out. Over time, this forms a graded
bed – a type of deposit in which the largest grains are found at the bottom and the smallest grains
at the top (a fining upward sequence).

Difficulty: Medium. Learning Objective: Define deposition and describe the conditions that
commonly lead to the deposition of sediment.
Section Reference: Depositional Environments

69) Discuss the similarities and differences between calcareous and siliceous ooze.

Answer: Calcareous and siliceous oozes are biogenic sediments that form on the sea floor from
small organisms. Calcareous oozes form when small, calcareous marine organisms die, fall to the
sea floor, and decompose. Siliceous oozes form when small, siliceous marine organisms die, fall
to the sea floor, and decompose.

Difficulty: Easy
Learning Objective: Describe the principal environments where deposition takes place in and
near the ocean.
Section Reference: Depositional Environments

71) Explain the difference between a delta and an estuary.

Answer: A delta is a sedimentary deposit, usually in the shape of a triangle that forms when a
stream enters a standing body of water. An estuary is a semi-enclosed body of coastal water in
which fresh water mixes with sea water.
Difficulty: Medium Learning Objective: Describe the principal environments where deposition
takes place in and near the ocean.
Section Reference: Depositional Environments

75) Explain the occurrence of banded iron formations.

Answer: Banded iron formations form when iron dissolved in sea water was precipitated as a
chemical sediment. Today, there is only a slight trace of dissolved iron in the oceans. In the past
when there was a large amount of dissolved iron in the oceans, there must have been little
oxygen in the atmosphere. Most banded iron formations are about the same age, roughly 1.8–2.5
billion years old. When banded iron formations stopped forming, free oxygen must have been
plentiful in the atmosphere, most likely from photosynthesizing plants. The presence of these
rocks marks the addition of free oxygen to the atmosphere.

Difficulty: Difficult. Learning Objective: Identify the most common clastic, chemical, and
biogenic sedimentary rock types.
Section Reference: Sedimentary Rock

66) Explain the difference between biogenic and chemical sediments.

Answer: Biogenic sediments are composed of plant and animal remains. Rocks formed from
these materials include coal and fossiliferous limestone. Chemical sediments form from the
precipitation of minerals dissolved in lakes, streams, or oceans.

Difficulty: Easy
Learning Objective: Identify the most common clastic, chemical, and biogenic sedimentary rock
types.
Section Reference: Sedimentary Rock

67) Discuss the classification of clastic sedimentary rocks based on their predominant grain size.

Answer: The four grain sizes discussed in the chapter are gravel, sand, silt, and clay. These four
size intervals can provide inferences on the energy of transport and distance from the source.
When lithified, the sediments form conglomerate/breccia (gravel-size clasts), sandstone (sand-
size clasts), siltstone (silt-size clasts), and shale (clay-size clasts), respectively.

Difficulty: Easy
Learning Objective: Identify the most common clastic, chemical, and biogenic sedimentary rock
types.
Section Reference: Sedimentary Rock
68) What are the similarities and differences between peat and coal?

Answer: Peat and coal both form from the remains of terrestrial plants. The difference is that
peat is a biogenic sediment (in essence an immature form of coal), whereas coal is a combustible
rock, formed from the lithification of the plant material.

Difficulty: Easy
Learning Objective: Identify the most common clastic, chemical, and sedimentary rock types.
Section Reference: Sedimentary Rock

70) What is the difference between bedding and a bedding surface?

Answer: Bedding refers to the layered arrangement of strata in a body of sediment or

sedimentary rock. A bedding surface is the top or bottom surface of a rock stratum or bed.

Difficulty: Easy
Learning Objective: Explain how features such as ripple marks, cracks, and fossils can tell
geologists about the environment in which a rock originated.
Section Reference: Sedimentary Rock

74) Explain how geologists use sedimentary structures.

Answer: Sedimentary structures are preserved forms found in sedimentary rocks that can offer
clues to their environment of deposition. Some of these structures include ripple marks,
mudcracks, raindrop imprints, cross-beds, and fossilized footprints. For example, if a geologist
observes mudcracks on a bedding surface, he can infer that those rocks were deposited in an area
that was intermittently wet and dry, such as a floodplain. Sedimentary structures are extremely
valuable to reconstructing a geologic history of an area.

Difficulty: Medium
Learning Objective: Explain how features such as ripple marks, cracks, and fossils can tell
geologists about the environment in which a rock originated.
Section Reference: Sedimentary Rock

73) Explain how sedimentary facies can be useful to a geologist.

Answer: Sedimentary facies are the changes in the characteristics in sediment from one area to
another. Geologists can observe these changes and build a framework showing how the facies
change can from one area to another. For example, if coral fossils or reefs are present, one can
infer that the area was deposited on a carbonate shelf. Once the facies are analyzed, the geologist
can construct a geologic history of an area with respect to sea level, climate, and paleotectonics
through time.
Difficulty: Medium
Learning Objective: Describe the concept of sedimentary facies.
Section Reference: Sedimentary Rock
Exploring the Variety of Random
Documents with Different Content
And so on, like a perpetual nightmare haunting him during his whole
journey through life, the Kandian villager sees his dreaded portents
in the simplest occurrences of his daily life. A few are
prognostications of good luck; but far more in number are those
which are to him obvious warnings, not to be disregarded with
impunity, of some unknown but impending evil that he must avoid if
possible.

Every evil is directly due to evil spirits, either specially instigated to

injure him by inimical magicians, or taking advantage of some
accidental opportunity. The evil spirits are innumerable and
malevolent, and ever ready to make use of any chance to annoy or
injure human beings. Thus it would be the height of foolhardiness to
ignore events that appear to be signs of some approaching
unfavourable action on their part.

One man informed me that in the dusk one evening he was unable
to find the little exit path from his chena, and was compelled to
remain all night there before the clearing work was finished. He
attributed this entirely to the malicious action of an evil spirit, who
had blocked it up in order to annoy him. When daylight came the
path was clear, and so plainly to be seen that he was certain that he
could not have missed it at night had it been in a similar state at
that time.

I knew of one instance in which a man who had arranged to make a

lengthy trading journey, and had loaded his cart with produce ready
for an early start at daybreak, abandoned the trip because he had a
dream in the night which he considered indicated an unfavourable
prospect. The reader will find a similar tale included among these
stories; and although the villagers laugh at the foolish men of whom
it is related, there are scores of others who would return home
under such circumstances.

It is a holiday season for the villagers, during which they can devote
themselves to the congenial occupation of contemplating the growth
of the rice and the millet crop; but it was preceded by much hard
work in the rice field and the chena. The felling of the thorny jungle
at the chena, the lopping and burning of the bushes, the clearing
and hoeing of the ground, and the construction of the surrounding
fence, were carried on continuously under a scorching sun from
morning to night, until the work was completed shortly before the
first light showers enabled the seed to be sown, after a further
clearing of the weeds that had sprung up over the ground.

As soon as the heavier rains had softened the hard soil of the rice
field, baked, where not sandy, by the tropical sun until it became like
stone, the work of ploughing and preparing the land for the paddy
crop was one that permitted little or no intermission. Every morning
the men carried their little ploughs on their shoulders, and yoking a
couple of buffaloes to each of them, spent many hours in guiding
the blunt plough backwards and forwards through the soil,
overgrown since the last crop by a covering of grass. It requires no
slight labour to convert such an apparently intractable material into a
smooth sheet of soft mud, eight inches deep. After that is done, all
the little earthen ridges that form the raised borders of each of the
rectangular plots into which the field is divided, and that are
necessary for retaining the sheet of water which is periodically
flooded over the rice, must be repaired and trimmed.

When that is accomplished the ground must be sown by hand

without delay, with paddy which has already sprouted, and being
merely scattered lightly on the surface of the thick mud, will grow at
once. The preparation of the paddy for this purpose is one of the
duties of the women, who soak it in water, and spread it a few
inches thick on large mats laid on the floor of the shed or the
veranda. In three days it will be sprouted, and ready for immediate
sowing. After the sowing is completed, there still remains the repair
or reconstruction of the stick fence which protects the field from
cattle, or, in some parts, deer.
It is thought to be essential for obtaining a satisfactory crop, that
each of the more important operations of these or any other works
should be commenced on a day and at an hour that have been
selected by the local astrologer as auspicious. There must be no
unfavourable aspects of the planets, which are held to have a most
powerful and often deleterious influence on all terrestrial matters;
planets or no planets, certain days are also recognised by every
person who claims a modicum of intelligence, as being notoriously
unlucky.

After the time for beginning the ploughing, or commencing the

clearing of the jungle at the chena, has been so chosen, a start must
be made at that hour, even though it be nothing more than a
beginning; and usually the plough is once run at that time through
each little plot of the field, several days before the real ploughing is
undertaken. In the case of the chena, a few branches will be lopped
off at the lucky moment, and the remainder of the work can then be
done when convenient.

Without such necessary precautions no village cultivator would be

astonished at the subsequent failure or unproductiveness of the
crops, either through excess or deficiency of the rainfall, or damage
caused by wild animals, or, in the case of the rice, by an excessive
irruption of “flies” or bugs, which suck out the milky juices of the
immature grains. The surprise would be felt, not at the failure of the
crops under such unfavourable conditions, but at the survival of any
crop worth reaping.

Of course, in the case of the “flies” on the rice the usual remedy of
their forefathers will be tried. A Bali Tiyannā, a priest who makes
offerings to arrest or avert the evil influences due to unpropitious
planets, will be summoned. After presenting a small offering, he will
march round the crop, blowing a perforated chank shell in order to
alarm any unfavourable spirits; at each side of the field he will
formally exorcise the flies, and in a loud voice order them to depart.1
But on the whole, notwithstanding the thorough confidence of the
exorcist in the efficacy of this treatment, it is felt to be a last resort,
which ought to be, but often is not, altogether as successful as the
owner of the crop might desire. Planets and flies are sometimes
intractable, and will not hearken to the charmer. Besides, thinks the
cultivator, who knows if the Bali Tiyannā was so foolish as to speak
to some one on his march round the field, and thus break the spell?

Now that he comes to consider the matter, the cultivator remembers

that he heard the cry of a Woodpecker2 as he was leaving the house
for the first ploughing. He thought at the time that, as the hour had
been declared to be a fortunate one, that warning scream was
intended for some other person; but now he is of opinion that it may
have been addressed to him. It is unfortunate; it must have been
settled by Fate that he should neglect it, but he will exercise more
care another time. He feels that he can always place confidence in
the House Lizards and Woodpeckers, because they receive their
information from the gods themselves.

When the chena crop is ripe, the wives of the owners collect a
number of friends and relatives, and proceed with them to the place,
each carrying a light sack or two, and a diminutive sickle. With this
they cut off the heads of the millet, storing them in the sacks; the
straw is left as useless. All the party are rather gaily dressed, usually
in white, and often have a broad strip of calico tied over the head,
with the ends falling down the back. This work is looked upon as a
recreation, and is carried on amid a large amount of chatter and
banter, and the singing of songs by first one and then another, each
verse being repeated by the whole party. Some that are sung are
simple verses from the olden time, which probably are believed to
have a magical influence.

At noon and in the evening the bags full of millet are carried to the
houses of the owners of the crop. Meals are provided for the whole
party by them, and no payment is made for the work. In most
districts the men never take any part in this reaping, and their
presence would be thought objectionable. As one of them expressed
it, they stay at home and boil water.

For the reaping of the rice crop, the man to whom it belongs collects
a few assistants in the same way, the women also sometimes joining
in the work. The stems of the plants are cut near the ground, and
are tied up in little sheaves, which are collected first at some of the
junctions of the earthen ridges in the field. The whole are removed
afterwards and built into larger stacks at the side of the field, near a
flat threshing-floor of hard earth, surrounded by a fence in which a
few trees are planted as a shade.

The threshing of the stacks is a business of great importance, which

must be performed according to ancient customs that are supposed
to have a magical effect, and prevent injurious demoniacal
interference with the out-turn. After the floor has been thoroughly
cleaned and purified, a magical circular diagram, with mystical
symbols round it, is drawn on the ground round a central post,
before the threshing can be commenced.

The unthreshed rice is laid over the floor in a circle round the central
post, and four buffaloes in a row are driven over it, round and round
the post, following the direction taken by the sun, that is, from the
east towards the south and so on through the circle, the stems of
the rice being shaken up from time to time. After the corn has been
thus trampled out of the ears it is collected and poured gradually out
of baskets held high in the air, so that the wind may blow away the
chaff. The corn is then placed in sacks and carried to the store.

After the crop of the chena or field has been gathered in, a small
offering of the first-fruits is made at the local Dēwāla, or demon
temple, and cleaned rice is also presented to the resident monk at
the local Buddhist temple.

When the crop is placed in the store, the household supply of food
for at least a great part of the year, and commonly for the whole
year, has been provided for. Such additions as salt, sun-dried fish,
and some of the condiments used in curries are obtained by
bartering coconuts, or paddy, or millet, at little roadside shops which
are established at a few places along the main roads throughout the
country. These are kept by Muhammadan trades—commonly termed
Tambi, with, in village talk, the honorific addition ayiyā, “elder
brother,”—or Sinhalese from the Low Country districts, or Tamils
from Jaffna; and rarely or never by Kandians. From these shops,
also, clothes are procured at long intervals in the same way, or a
special journey is made to the nearest town or larger shopping
centre.

As a general rule, in the interior it is all a matter of barter, and very

little money is used, so little indeed that if the crops be less
satisfactory than usual the villager often has difficulty in paying the
tax of a rupee and a half (two shillings), which is collected by
Government each year from adult males, towards the cost of
keeping the roads in order. In the poorer districts, the payment of
this, the only direct tax of the villager, is like a recurring annual
nightmare, which worries him for weeks together, and unfortunately
cannot be charmed away, like his other nightmares, by a magic
thread.

Village life is on the whole a dull one. Its excitements are provided
by demon-ceremonies for the cure of sickness, occasional law-suits,
and more especially by weddings, which afford a welcome
opportunity for feasting, and displaying clothes and jewellery, but
sometimes also cause quarrels owing to caste or family jealousies. It
would be too long a digression to attempt to describe these here.
Pilgrimages to important Buddhist temples are also undertaken,
about nine-tenths of the pilgrims being women, a proportion
sometimes observable in church attendance in England.

One of the pleasantest features of village life is the family re-union

at the Sinhalese New Year, April 11 or 12, when all the members
meet at their old home if possible, and make little presents to each
other, and pay ceremonial visits, dressed in their best clothes, to
their relatives and friends. The men also call on their local headmen,
who in the same way visit their superiors. I have known considerable
numbers of villagers tramp ninety miles on hot dusty roads, with an
equally long return journey in prospect, in order to be present at this
home gathering.

For three weeks before the day, the whole village life is disorganised
by preparations for this festival. The houses are furbished up,
plantains and palm sugar are collected, often from places many
miles away, new clothes are purchased, and every one’s mind is
given up to anticipation of the event and provision for it, to the
complete exclusion of all ordinary work. It is also a busy time for
astrologers, who are required to fix a suitable day and a lucky hour
for the first lighting of the New Year’s fire, the first cooking of food,
and, three or four days later, the hour at which the heads of all shall
be anointed, pending which important ceremony no work is begun
or journey commenced.

In many villages the women produce from some dark hiding-place

the little board with fourteen little cup-shaped hollows, in two rows
each consisting of seven cups, on which the ancient game called in
Ceylon “Olinda” is played. Four bright red seeds of the Olinda
creeper are placed in each cup, and the two players, who sit on
opposite sides of the board, “sow” them one by one in the holes. As
a rule, only the women play at this game, at which many of them
are adepts, carrying it on for hours at a time with the greatest
rapidity and skill. At the conclusion of the New Year’s holiday, or
soon after it, the boards are returned to their hiding-places, and
often are not used again for another year. In the villages where Low
Country influence has penetrated, many of the men find gambling a
more attractive amusement, as well as a more exciting one, at this
time.

About once in a couple of years a party of Gypsies who speak

Telugu, and broken Tamil and Sinhalese, come along the high road,
and settle down on a patch of open grass near a tank. The talipat
palm leaves with which their diminutive oblong huts are roofed, and
strong creepers or bamboos curved in a semicircle, for making the
skeleton framework, are transported on small donkeys, the women
and children carrying the other few household goods and cooking
utensils in bundles on their heads. Some take about with them large
numbers of goats.

As soon as they have raised their little huts, each about four feet
high, and surrounded by a shallow channel for carrying off rain
water, the adults leave them in charge of the children and old
women, and spread through all the villages of the neighbourhood in
order to collect food or money. The man carries in a round, flat,
black basket slung in a cloth from his shoulder, a cobra or two, which
are made to “dance,” a term which means merely sitting coiled up
(the head with the hood expanded being raised about fifteen inches
from the ground), and making attempts to strike the moving knee or
hand of the crouching exhibitor. The women tell fortunes by the lines
on the hands.

All the village girls endeavour to raise the requisite three halfpence
or twopence so as to hear, often for the third or fourth time, of their
past and future experiences, and to be promised handsome
husbands possessing fields and cattle. The adults pay a little rice for
the exhibition of the cobras.

When the Gypsies have exhausted the contributory possibilities of

the adjoining villages they move on again to another camping
ground. They have always a number of dogs which assist in catching
animals for the food supply, and it is few, whether provided with legs
or without legs, that are thought unfit to eat. The diet includes white
ants, rat-snakes, owls, and munguses, as well as any stray village
fowls that can be acquired surreptitiously.

These Gypsies of Ceylon are an interesting race, and I may be

permitted a digression in order to furnish some details regarding
them. I am not aware how long they have settled in Ceylon; they
are permanent dwellers in the island, and are especially found in the
northern half and the eastern districts, but also in the south and in
the hill districts. In the Sinhalese districts they have developed a
dialect which appears to be a curious compound of Telugu and
Sinhalese. Thus fowls, which in Telugu are termed Kōllu, are known
by them as Guglu, the Sinhalese Kukuḷu.

From a Gypsy with whom, by the aid of pecuniary intervention, I

established friendly relations, cemented by my presenting him one
day with a fine newly-caught cobra, I learnt that they enjoy general
good health, notwithstanding the apparent hardships of their life.
They attribute this to their constant changes of drinking-water and
camping-sites, no camp being maintained in one place for more than
seven days in the Sinhalese districts. In the Eastern Province, where
the Gypsies possess very large herds of cattle, amounting sometimes
to four or five hundred, they camp in one spot for a month if the
grazing be sufficiently good.

They do not keep their cobras for more than a month. After being
kept for that period, they not only become too tame to “dance,” but,
what is far more important, their poison fangs grow afresh, and it
would be dangerous to retain them. They are therefore always
released at the end of that time, if not earlier. They are fed regularly
upon fowls’ eggs and occasional rats.

My friend characterised as nonsense the idea of their handling and

using cobras which have not had their fangs excised. The reader
may remember Sir Bartle Frere’s note in Old Deccan Days, p. 329,
regarding a boy who continued to handle with impunity poisonous
snakes with unremoved fangs, until at last one killed him. The
reader is also referred to Drummond Hay’s Western Barbary, 1844,
pp. 105–108, in which an account is given of a snake-charmer who
allowed a deadly snake to bite him. A fowl that it bit immediately
afterwards died in a minute, while the man did not suffer from the
bite. Hay saw the snake’s fangs. He mentions another instance at
Tangier, in which a youth who was sceptical regarding the poison
allowed the snake to bite him, and died from the effect of it.

I saw this Gypsy cut off the fangs of the cobra that I gave him. This
was done with a common pen-knife which he kept for the purpose.
The head being held sideways on a thick stick, so that the upper jaw
lay on it, the fang was cut off at the base. The head was then
turned, and the other fang removed. The man then passed his fore-
finger along the jaw, and finding a slight roughness or projection,
sliced off a little of the bone at each side. After this he released the
cobra, which followed him and sprang at him furiously, time after
time, and had its first lesson on the ease with which he evaded its
strokes. When it became tired of attempting the impossible, he
consigned it to his basket—another cobra ready for exhibition.

Some of these men are extraordinarily expert in making pretended

captures of cobras which they apparently fascinate by their pipes, so
as to attract them from their holes or hiding-places. They perform
this feat so cleverly as to deceive many people, who insist that it is a
real capture. I have twice got them to do it for me—in the Southern
and the North-western Provinces—and although I watched them
from a very short distance, I was unable to see whence the cobra
was produced. On both occasions I examined the mouth of the
cobra immediately after it was captured, and in both instances I
found that the fangs had been removed. My Gypsy friend also
assured me that it was a mere trick which only a few learn.

In each case, the man, who was dressed only in a cloth extending
from the waist to the calf, after piping for some time at the edge of
the bushes in which the snake might possibly be found, bent down
suddenly, half entering the bush, and apparently endeavoured to
seize a cobra which eluded him. After resuming the piping for a few
seconds more, he bent down again at the same spot, and drew out
a large cobra—one was nearly six feet long; it extended to the full
length of his outstretched hands—holding it by the tail; then slipping
his other hand rapidly along its body he grasped it tightly behind the
jaws. Probably when first bending down he placed a cobra on the
ground, afterwards seizing it by the tail as it was moving off.

In one case, a pretence at being bitten on the thumb on the way

back from the bush was very effective. There were two bleeding
punctures between the nail and the knuckle, at the right distance
apart, and the expressions of pain no doubt were not altogether
simulated.

The supposed poison was extracted by means of the usual spells

and remedial agents—a charmed piece of creeper and a tiny ball of
lime, the latter to check the progress of the poison along the arm,
and the former to draw it down to the wounds; and two “snake
stones”—nearly flat rectangular pieces of horn slightly hollowed on
one side—which were placed on the wounds to extract the poison.
These “stones” adhere by atmospheric pressure when wetted and
pressed on the skin with the hollowed side downwards. I have been
informed that the wounds are made by pressing on the thumb a
thorny seed capsule which has two sharp spikes at a suitable
distance apart.

One of these men afterwards proceeded to a large village about a

mile away, and appeared to capture three more cobras in the same
manner at houses where the residents denied that any were to be
found; but in the end I was told by the villagers that he had only
two cobras in his basket, this being the number that I saw in his
possession before these last pretended captures were made.

These people are said to live well, better, indeed, than the majority
of the villagers. The women are given to lavish personal adornment
of an inexpensive kind, chiefly articles of brass and glass. On one
lady, perhaps considered a beauty, I counted sixteen bead
necklaces; twenty-four bangles, chiefly of common black glass, on
the wrists; four silver armlets on the upper arms; and six rings on
each finger and thumb, excepting only the middle finger of each
hand.
The Kandian village is a self-contained unit, producing everything
that the inhabitants require, with the exception of the few articles
previously mentioned. It hears a faint echo of the news of the great
outer world, without feeling that this has any connexion with its own
life. It would listen with almost equal indifference to a statement
that the sky was blue, or that England was at war with a European
power, or that a new Governor had been appointed. When I asked a
villager’s opinion regarding the transfer of a Government Agent who
had ruled a Province for some years, he replied, “They say one
Agent has gone and another Agent has come; that is all.”

The supervision of the work of maintaining in order the embankment

of the village reservoir or “tank,” upon which the rice crops depend,
as well as of the fencing of the rice field, is in the hands of the
Gamarāla, now termed in other parts than the North-central
Province, the Vidānē. The latter title is not recognised in any of the
folk-tales, in which (with one exception) the Gamarāla is the only
headman represented. His jurisdiction extends over two or three
closely adjoining villages, or sometimes over one only.

Of a higher rank and different functions is the Āracci (pronounced

Āratchy), who rules over five or six villages, and who is responsible
for the maintenance of order, arrests and prosecutes offenders, and
acts as general factotum for seeing that the orders received from
superior headmen are promulgated and obeyed.

Of much more important authority are the Kōralē-Āracci and Kōrāla,

the latter being the head of a considerable district, and above these
again is the Raṭēmahatmayā, who is the supreme and very
influential chief of a large part of a Province. By successive steps in
promotion the members of influential or respectable families may
rise to any of these offices. Though all but the highest one are
unsalaried, they are competed for with a good deal of eagerness on
account of the power which they confer, the possibility of further
promotion, and also for the opportunities which they afford for
receiving “presents,” which flow in a pleasing though invisible, but
not therefore less remunerative, stream towards all but the Vidānēs
and Gamarālas.

A few words may be added regarding the castes of the Kandian

districts whose stories are given in this work, or who are referred to.

The Smiths come next to the cultivating caste, sometimes occupying

separate hamlets, but often living in the same village as the superior
caste, though divided from it by an impassable gulf, of which only
the women preserve the outward sign. Those of the cultivating caste
are alone permitted by social custom to dress in one outer robe in
one piece; all of lower rank must wear a separate garment from the
waist upward.

The Smiths are considered to be the highest class of their caste,

called Nayidē, the artificers. There are said to be five classes of
Nayidēs:—(1) Ācāri (pronounced Ātchāry), which includes the
Smiths, Painters, and Sculptors; (2) Baḍahaela, Potters; (3) Mukkara
or Karāwa, Fishers; (4) Madinna, Toddy-drawers (“toddy” is fresh
palm-juice); (5) all “Moormen,” the descendants of Muhammadan
settlers. All these, and the other low castes, except the Roḍiyās,
cultivate rice and millet.

The Potters live by making all local forms of earthen pottery, and
tiles and bricks if required. They build up large temporary kilns filled
with alternate layers of pots and fire-wood, and are often intelligent
men. Some of them are priests or conductors of services for the
propitiation of planets and other evil astronomical bodies, as well as
astrologers.

Next in the villages come the Washermen (Radawā, or Hēnayā, or

Hēnawalayā), who possess great power as the arbiters regarding
cases of the violation of social etiquette or custom. The disgrace of a
refusal on their part to wash the clothes of objectionable persons is
a form of social ostracism, and the offender soon has sad experience
of the truth of the statement of the Mahā Bhārata that there is
nothing (except fire) that is so purifying as gold (or its value). Some
of the washermen are officiators at demon ceremonies. They are
paid for their services as washermen in produce of various kinds,
each family giving an annual subvention in paddy, etc., in return for
its washing. One whom I knew could improvise four-line stanzas for
an indefinite time, on the spur of the moment, each verse being
composed while the audience chanted the refrain after the preceding
one.

The Tom-tom Beaters (Berawayā) are a peculiar and interesting

caste, who formerly combined their present duties with the weaving
of cotton fabrics in frames. Although the arduous work of their
profession—often a whole night’s hard dancing or tom-toming—leads
at the time to a considerable consumption of “arrack,” the spirit
distilled from palm juice, I believe that few of them take much liquor
at other times.

In their own work many of them are very expert, the result of many
years of training. On one occasion three tom-tom beaters requested
permission to give me an exhibition of their skill. The leader first
played a short simple tune, which was repeated in turn by the
second and third players. They continued to play in this way, in turn,
the tunes becoming increasingly difficult and rapid; whatever
impromptu changes the leader introduced were all repeated in the
same manner by the others. A number of villagers who were
present, and listening critically, stated that it was a clever
performance; it was also a noisy one.

The boys are taught to learn thoroughly, without using a tom-tom,

the whole of the complicated airs that are played, repeating a series
of sounds such as ting, tang, etc., which with varying emphasis
represent the various notes to be played on the tom-tom. Not until
they can give in this manner the whole of an air correctly, as regards
notes, time, and emphasis, are they considered to know it. It is a
tonic sol-fa system. To these professionals, every air has its name
and meaning, often expressed in words which fit the notes; so that
when a very few notes have been heard they can state what is being
said. The reader will find one or two references to this in the folk-
tales.

The Durayās are the carriers of baggage for the higher caste, and
nearly always have tanks and fields of more than average quality.
These have been granted to them in former times by the cultivating
caste in return for their services, which could be claimed at any time
if a man were about to proceed on a journey, and required himself
or his luggage carrying. They still occupy a very low social position.
Formerly the women were not allowed to wear above the waist more
clothing than a strip of calico of about a hand’s breadth, across the
breast; a coloured handkerchief now generally takes its place.

Much has been written about the Roḍiyās. They may be of partly
different descent from the Sinhalese, but I do not know how far this
matter has been investigated. Their hamlets are never called gama,
“village,” but kuppāyama.3 I am not aware that any of them cultivate
rice fields; they make ropes, and guard chenas and cattle for others.
They also partly subsist by begging, and, it is said, by theft; some
are gamblers also. The women usually wear no clothing above the
waist. Their dialect differs from Sinhalese to some extent.

Nothing is known regarding the origin of the Kinnarās, the lowest

caste of all, in whose case there are several anomalies that deserve
investigation. They do not hunt as a profession. They have village
tanks and rice fields, own cattle, and have good houses and neat
villages. Their caste occupation is mat weaving in frames, with
Niyanda fibre alone or combined with grass.

Some have their heads covered with a mass of thick, short, very
curly hair, being the only people in the island possessing this
distinctive characteristic. The features and the colour of the skin are
of the ordinary type of the lower castes, and would not enable them
to be recognised from others. Social rules forbid the growth of the
hair beyond the neck. The dress of the women is restricted like that
of the Durayās. Though they can never enter Buddhist temples, or
the enclosures round them, they are all Buddhists. I was informed
that their social ceremonies, as well as the religious ones, that is,
those for propitiating evil spirits, whether demoniacal or planetary,
closely resemble those of the other castes; and that they, as well as
the Roḍiyās, have their own medical practitioners, astrologers,
soothsayers, and kapuwās or officiators at demon ceremonies.

The men of the Cheṭṭi caste, or Heṭṭiyās, who are mentioned in

some of the stories, are either Indians, or the descendants of Indian
settlers. The Cheṭṭi caste is one of great importance, and many of its
members are persons of the highest respectability and often of great
wealth. The persons referred to in these tales are only some of the
inferior members of the race, some of whom have little road-side
shops or cultivate small fields and gardens.

Coming at last to the stories themselves, I may quote the words of

the late Mr. W. Goonetilleke, the learned editor of The Orientalist, a
journal published during the years 1884–1892, in which many folk-
tales of Ceylon were given. Mr. Goonetilleke said (vol. i. p. 36),
“What is really wanted … are the genuine stories of the Sinhalese
[and other races also], those which are quite free from foreign
influences, and have existed among the people from time
immemorial. These can only be gathered from the inhabitants of
villages and of the remoter parts of the island into which western
civilization has not yet penetrated.” It is an adherence to this advice,
and, I may say also, the complete absence of all attempts to give
the tales a literary appearance that the originals do not possess,
which constitute the special features of the present work.

Though all have been collected by myself, I have only myself written
down a very limited number from dictation. All the rest have been
written for me in Sinhalese by the narrators themselves, or by other
villagers employed by me to collect them, who wrote them just as
they were dictated. I preferred this latter method as being free from
any disturbing foreign influence. Only three very short stories were
written down by me in English; two of them were related in English
by a Sinhalese gentleman, and the other, a variant of another story,
was written immediately after a Buddhist monk had related it to me
in Sinhalese.

The stories, as they now appear, are practically literal translations of

the written Sinhalese originals, perhaps it may be thought in some
respects too literal. My aim has been to present them as nearly as
possible in the words in which they are related in the villages. The
only liberty of any importance that I have taken has been the
insertion of an occasional word or phrase where it was evidently
omitted by the narrator, or was necessary in order to elucidate the
meaning, or complete the sense.

It was unavoidable that many expressions, such as “afterwards,”

“after that,” “at that time,” “then,” “again,” with which the village
story-teller repeatedly begins his sentences, should be deleted. Many
past participles which Sinhalese grammar requires have been
transformed into the past tense, and most of the tense errors have
been corrected, and in rare instances an unmanageable sentence
has been cut in two. Such a word as “came,” when it expressed
“came back,” is sometimes translated “returned”; and “said,” where
it referred to an answer, is occasionally turned into “replied.” The
word translated as “behead,” is merely “cut” in the original; but the
context sometimes shows that the other meaning is to be
understood.

In other respects, the reader may rely on having here the tales in
their true village forms, and expressed in the same simple manner. I
have even left one peculiar idiom that is often used, according to
which a question is described as being asked, or a statement made,
“at the hand” of a person; but I do not follow the village story-teller
in using this form in conversations carried on with the lower animals.
It is quite usual in Sinhalese to state that a question was asked by a
person “at the hand” (lit. “from the hand,” the same word meaning
also “fore-paw”) of a jackal, a deer, or a reptile. It will be seen that I
have not attempted to translate the interjections into English.

It will be noticed that in the majority of the tales the characters are
introduced in the present tense, which is then abandoned. The
narrators sometimes relapse into it afterwards, but as a rule, unless
action is being emphasised, I have adhered to the past tense in such
instances, excepting in the stories told by the Village Vaeddās and
the lowest castes, in which it seemed advisable to make as little
change as possible.

Attention may be invited to the tales told by the lowest castes,

probably the only stories of theirs that have ever been collected in
Ceylon. From the Tom-tom Beaters a considerable number were
obtained, some of which will appear in a later volume. The few tales
that have been told by the Roḍiyās and Kinnarās are very simple;
the chief fact is that they have any to tell.

It appeared to be likely that some of the Sindbad series of

adventures might be found in Ceylon, but inquiries made in different
districts, including part of the west coast, failed to reveal any tales
belonging to the “Arabian Nights,” with the exception of one which
probably was derived from a printed work, and orally transmitted
from one of the towns. It is still possible that some may be found, as
the Rukh is included in the Sinhalese tales, and the ogre called
Rākshasa, who is a familiar personage in them, is correctly described
in his folk-tale form, in one of the Sindbad voyages. In one story,
which is not included in this work, there is the incident of the demon
who was imprisoned in a bottle. The demon was Māra, Death
personified, and his captor was a Vedarāla, or medical practitioner.
The age of the tale is uncertain.

It is evident that many of the stories belong to distant times, but

there is little to indicate their age more definitely. In one tale only, of
this volume, the money mentioned is the kahawaṇuwa, in old
Sinhalese kahawaṇa, the Pāli kahāpaṇa, a coin that ceased to be
current by the tenth or eleventh century A.D., if not considerably
earlier. Commonly, we find that the coinage is the masurama, plural
masuran, which came into use in the eleventh century and was not
coined after the thirteenth; but of course this is far from proving that
the stories in which it occurs are not of much earlier date. There are
no references to the Portuguese, who arrived in Ceylon at the
beginning of the sixteenth century, or to later foreign residents; but
a Tamil king is mentioned.

Although a large number of the stories relate the adventures of

Kings, Queens, Princes and Princesses, it will be observed that these
personages sometimes behave like ordinary villagers. The Queen or
Princess often cooks the rice for the family meal; Sir Bartle Frere has
stated in the notes at the end of Old Deccan Days, p. 324, that this
“would be nothing unusual in the house of a Rajah …. It is still the
most natural precaution he can take against poison, to eat nothing
but what has been prepared by his own wife or daughter, or under
their eye in his own zenana, and there are few accomplishments on
which an Indian Princess prides herself more than on her skill in
cookery.”

It is not to be understood that such persons in these stories are

supposed to be members of the family of the ruling monarch of
Ceylon. These so-called “kings,” ruling over a small district or even a
single city, are in reality some of the more important parumakas or
feudal chiefs of the inscriptions of pre-Christian or early post-
Christian years. This old title does not make its appearance in the
stories, however.

Vaeddā rulers who are termed “kings” receive notice in three stories.
In one which was given in Ancient Ceylon, p. 93, a Vaeddā youth
was appointed the king of a Sinhalese district, which is stated to
have prospered under his rule. In a tale in the present volume (No.
4) reference is made to a Vaeddā “king” who dwelt in a forest, and
who arrested some travellers and imprisoned them in what is termed
a house. In another story, which is not included here, there is an
account of another Vaeddā “king” who lived in a forest, and who
ordered his archers to kill a prince who had succeeded to the
sovereignty of a neighbouring district on the death of his father, and
was proceeding there in order to assume it. His offence lay in
travelling through the forest without first obtaining the permission of
the Vaeddā ruler. We also find references to Vaeddās who were
accustomed to enter the towns; one of them laid a complaint before
a Sinhalese “king” that a person had threatened to kill him in the
forest. Probably in all these instances we have a true picture of the
actual position, in early times, of some of the Vaeddās who had not
yet adopted, or had abandoned, the village life. Their chiefs were
practically independent in their wild forests.

The Rākshasas (in village spelling Rāsayā, Rāsī) who are introduced
into many tales are ogres like those of Europe. The Yakās are always
demons or evil spirits, of little intelligence, often having a human
appearance but black in colour. They live chiefly upon human flesh,
like the ogres, and possess like them some supernatural powers.

With regard to the animals mentioned, it is strange to find such

prominence accorded to the Lion, which has never existed in a wild
state in Ceylon. Its characteristics are correctly described, even
including its ear-splitting roar.

The place taken by the Fox of European tales is filled by the Jackal,
full of craft and stratagems, but sometimes over-reaching himself.
The Hare and Turtle are represented as surpassing all the animals in
cleverness, as in African and American Negro stories.

Of all the animals, the poor Leopard is relegated to the lowest place,
both as regards want of intelligence and cowardice; and in only one
adventure does he come off better than the Jackal. Even in that one
his position is a despicable one, and he is completely cowed by a
little Mouse-deer, the clever animal of Malay stories. In Ceylon the
Leopard occupies the place taken in India by the foolish Tiger.
It is perhaps the chief merit of these stories, and certainly a feature
which gives them a permanent value, that we have in them the only
existing picture of the village life of ancient times, painted by the
villagers themselves. From the histories we can learn practically
nothing regarding the life of those of the ancient inhabitants of
Ceylon who were not monks or connected with royalty, or the
conditions under which they existed. It is here alone that the reader
finds the daily experiences and the ideas and beliefs of the villagers
gradually unfolded before him. In some of the stories we may see
how the village life went on in the early centuries after Christ, and
how little it has changed since that time. Others doubtless contain
particulars which belong to a much later period, and in some there is
an incongruous mixture of the old and the new, as when the slates
of school children are introduced into what is evidently a tale of
considerable age.

In the case of stories like these, composed for the amusement of

villagers only, and related by villagers to other villagers, it might be
expected that a considerable number of objectionable expressions
would occur. So far from this being the fact, I am able to state with
much satisfaction that in only three or four instances in this volume
has it been thought desirable to slightly modify any part of the
stories. It is to be remembered that it is not the function of these
tales in general to inculcate ideas of morality or propriety, although
kindness of heart is always represented as meeting with some
adequate reward or success, and the wicked and cruel are punished
in most cases. But successful trickery and clever stratagems are
always quoted approvingly, and are favourite themes in the tales
which are most evidently of entirely local origin. In this respect they
do not differ from many Indian stories. Undaunted bravery, and also
self-abnegation and deep affection, are characteristics which are
displayed by many of the heroes and heroines; but untruthfulness is
practised, and is never condemned.

The instances of polygamy are almost confined to the members of

the royal families; there is one case of polyandry in which both the
husbands were brothers. Infanticide was practised; in one tale a
woman is recommended to kill her infant son because his horoscope
was said to be unpropitious, and in another the parents abandoned
their newly-born infant in order to carry home some fruit. In a story
that is not included in this volume, a king is described as ordering all
his female children to be killed immediately after birth. In another
tale which is not given here, another king is stated to have sold his
children during a time of scarcity.

These “kings,” however, are almost always depicted in an

unfavourable light. They are represented as cowardly, selfish,
licentious, unintelligent, and headstrong, ordering their sons or
others to be executed for very slight faults, in sudden fits of anger.
Murders are referred to as being commonly committed with
impunity, and by no means of unusual occurrence. One man is said
to have exchanged his wife for a bullock.

Yet although the story-tellers do not relate social events which were
not within the range of the common experience or traditions of the
people at the time when the tales were invented, it may be doubted
if the great mass of the villagers differed much as regards crime and
morality from those of the present day. The humdrum life of the
ordinary villager did not appeal to the story-teller, who required
more stirring incidents. It is not necessary to assume that such
events were of everyday occurrence.

Considering the situation of Ceylon and the Indian origin of the

people, it was certain that numerous tales would be similar to those
of India, if not identical with them; but, with the exception of the
story of the Creation, there are merely bare references to the Indian
deities in about four of the tales in this volume.

The great majority of the folk-tales collected by me, and almost the
whole of those given in this volume, come from districts of the far
interior of the island, where story-books in Sinhalese, Tamil,4 or
Arabic do not appear to have penetrated, and English is unknown by
the villagers. Such tales are therefore nearly free from modern
extraneous influences, and must be looked upon as often of genuine
Sinhalese origin, even when they utilise the usual stock incidents of
Indian folk-stories. A very few which resemble Jātaka stories may
owe their dissemination to Buddhist teaching, and doubtless some
also were orally transmitted by immigrants who were often of South
Indian nationality—as their similarity to South Indian stories shows—
or in some instances may have been settlers from the Ganges valley,
or near it.

With regard to the latter, it is not probable that they consisted only
of the early immigrants of pre-Christian times. King Niśśanka-Malla,
who reigned from 1198 to 1207 A.D., has recorded in his inscriptions
that he was a native of Sinhapura, then apparently the capital of the
Kālinga kingdom, which extended far down the east coast of India,
southward from the lower part of the Ganges valley; and he and his
Chief Queen Subhadrā, a Kālinga Princess, must have brought into
Ceylon many of their fellow-countrymen. The Queens of two other
earlier Kings of Ceylon were also Princesses from Kālinga.

In the Galpota inscription at Polannaruwa (Prof. E. Müller’s Ancient

Inscriptions in Ceylon, No. 148), he stated that “invited by the King
[Parākrama-Bāhu I], who was his senior kinsman, to come and reign
over his hereditary kingdom of Lakdiva [Ceylon], Vīra Niśśan̥ ka-Malla
landed with a great retinue in Lan̥ kā” [Ceylon]. Further on in the
same inscription he stated that “he sent to the country of Kālinga,
and caused many Princesses of the Soma and Sūrya races to be
brought hither.”

A connexion with the Kālinga kingdom seems to have been

maintained from early times. In his inscriptions the same king
claimed that the sovereignty of Ceylon belonged by right to the
Kālinga dynasty. He described himself in his Dambulla inscription
(Ancient Inscriptions, No. 143), as “the liege lord of Lakdiva by right
of birth, deriving descent from the race of King Wijaya,” the first king
of Ceylon, who according to the Sinhalese historical works was also
born at a town called Sinhapura, which is stated to have been
founded by his father. In the Galpota inscription we read of “Princes
of the Kālinga race to whom the island of Lan̥ kā has been peculiarly
appropriate since the reign of Wijaya.”

Niśśanka-Malla was succeeded by his elder half-brother, Sāhasa-

Malla, who remarked in his Polannaruwa inscription (Anc.
Inscriptions, No. 156) that he also was born at Sinhapura. He, too,
claimed that Wijaya was a member of their family. He said, “Because
King Wijaya, having destroyed the Yakshas, established Lan̥ kā like a
field made by rooting out the stumps, it is a place much protected
by Kings from this very family.”

Thus it will be seen that stories which are current in Central India, or
the lower part of the Ganges Valley, or even the Panjāb, as well as
tales of Indian animals such as the Lion, may have been brought
direct to Ceylon by immigrants from Kālinga, or Magadha, or Bengal.
Apparently it is in this manner that the evident connexion between
the tales of Ceylon and Kashmīr is to be explained, the stories
passing from Magadha or neighbouring districts, to Kashmīr on the
one side, and from Magadha or Kālinga to Ceylon on the other.

To show the connexion of the Sinhalese stories with those of India,

the outlines of some Indian parallels have been appended after each
tale, as well as a very few from the interior of Western Africa; but no
European variants, except in two instances, where they are inserted
for the benefit of readers in Ceylon.

The stories have been arranged in two parts. In the first one are
those told by members of the Cultivating Caste and Village Vaeddās;
in the second one those related of or by members of lower castes.
Those of each caste are given consecutively, the animal stories in
each case coming last.

The general reader is advised to pay no attention to diacritical marks

or dots which indicate separate letters in the Sinhalese alphabet, or
to note only the long vowels. In all cases ae is to be pronounced as
a diphthong, like a in “hat,” and not to rhyme with “me.” It is short
where not marked long.

Enough material has been collected for a second volume, which it is

hoped may be published next year.

As reference has been made to the subject in the foregoing extracts

from Sinhalese inscriptions, a few lines may be added regarding the
district from which Wijaya came, and his journey to Ceylon. The
sentences that have been quoted prove that at the beginning of the
thirteenth century A.D., it was claimed by two kings of Ceylon who
came from Sinhapura in the Kālinga country that they were of the
same family as Wijaya.

At a very early date the lands along the southern bank of the
Ganges were divided into a series of states that once were
independent. Proceeding eastward in the lower part of the valley,
these were Magadha, occupying southern Bihār, with its capital
Rājagaha (called also Rājagriha and Girivraja), afterwards
abandoned in favour of Pāṭaliputta, near Patnā; Anga, separated
from it by the river Campā (c pronounced as ch), on which was its
capital Campā; Vanga or Banga, probably extending on both sides of
the Ganges, and forming part of the modern Bengal; and Tāmalitta,
or Tāmralipta, with a capital of the same name at Tamluk, near the
southern mouth of the Ganges. Extending along the east coast was
Kālinga; and between it and Magadha and Anga came the Puṇḍra
and Ōḍra states, the latter occupying part of Orissa.

An old legend recorded that several of these states had a common

origin. It was said that the wife of a Yādava king Vali or Bali had five
sons, Anga, Vanga, Kālinga, Puṇḍra and Ōḍra or Sunga, each of
whom founded a separate state. The names of the first four are
grouped together several times in the Mahā Bhārata, as taking part
with Kōśala and Magadha in the great legendary fight against the
Pāṇḍavas, and on one day the troops from Magadha and Kālinga are
said to have formed, with another people, one wing of the Kuru
army.

Regarding Kālinga, Pliny gives the name of a race called the

Maccocalingæ, who have been thought to belong to Orissa, and he
wrote that the Modogalingæ occupied a very large island in the
Ganges, that is, apparently part of the delta.

At a later date there were said to be three districts called collectively

Trikālinga. Whether these were portions of the more southern part
of the Kālinga country only, or included the land of the
Modogalingæ, is not clear. If the Kālinga kingdom once included the
territory of the Modogalingæ, the Tāmalitta district would be part of
the Kālinga country at that time; but apparently Vanga was
unconnected with Kālinga, the two being mentioned as separate
kingdoms.

Divested of its impossibilities, the story of Wijaya’s ancestry which is

contained in the Sinhalese histories is that a king of Vanga, who had
married the daughter of a king of Kālinga, had a daughter who
joined a caravan that was proceeding to Magadha. On the way,
either a robber chief called Sīha, “Lion,” attacked and plundered the
caravan, and carried off the Princess, or she joined a member of the
caravan who had that name. They settled down in a wild tract of
country termed Lāḷa, near the western border of the Vanga territory.
There she had two children—the eldest being Sīha-Bāhu—with
whom she afterwards returned to the Vanga capital, where her
cousin Anura, who became King of Vanga, is said to have married
her. Her son Sīha-Bāhu went back to his father’s district, Lāḷa,
founded a town called Sīhapura or Sinhapura, and lived there as the
ruler of the country around. Evidently it was a subordinate district
belonging to Vanga; it is stated that the Vanga king granted it to him
(Mah. i. p. 31). It is not mentioned in the Rāmāyana, the Mahā
Bhārata, the Jātaka stories, or in the lists of countries given in the
Purānas to which I have access; but the people of Lāṭa are referred
to in a tenth century grant from Bhāgalpur, a town on territory that
once formed the eastern part of Magadha (Indo-Aryans, by Dr. R.
Mitra, ii. 273).

The first marriage or elopement of the Princess does not appear to

have affected the status of her son Sīha-Bāhu. According to the
histories, his eldest son, Wijaya, eventually married the daughter of
the Pāṇḍiyan king of the southern Madura, and his second son,
Sumitta, who succeeded him, married the daughter of the King of
Madda or Madra, probably a small eastern state of that name, rather
than the distant Madda in the Panjāb.

The Sinhalese histories record that Wijaya was exiled on account of

his lawless behaviour, but the truth of this statement may be
doubted, and it is a suspicious fact that this part of the story
resembles folk-tales from Kashmīr.5 We are informed in those works
not only that he was exiled, but that he was also forcibly deported
by sea, together with seven hundred followers, and their wives and
children, that is, two or three thousand persons.

All that is actually credible in this incident is that for a reason which
is unknown, perhaps a love of adventure, or possibly at the
solicitation of traders who had settled there, he proceeded by sea to
Ceylon, where he became the first Sinhalese king. Most probably he
accompanied a party of Magadhese or other merchants.

It is recorded that from an early period vessels sailed across the Bay
of Bengal from various ports on the Ganges. In the Jātaka stories
some are mentioned as passing down the Ganges from Benares with
traders, and being far out at sea for several days, and even going to
Suvaṇṇa Bhūmi (Burma) and back. Tāmalitta was a famous port in
early times and for many centuries; and there is a definite and
credible statement that vessels sailed direct from it to Ceylon in the
reign of Aśōka, in the third century B.C. There is no reason to
suppose that similar voyages were not undertaken long prior to the
period during which the Jātakas were being composed. If they are
not mentioned in earlier Buddhist works, this may have been merely
owing to the fact that their authors felt no interest in the trade of
the countries near the mouth of the Ganges.

In the presence of such evidence of the sea-going capabilities of the

vessels which sailed from the ports on the Ganges, the statement of
the Sinhalese histories that Wijaya embarked at Baroach, on the
western coast, whether accompanied by a large party of followers
and numerous women and children or not, cannot be credited. It is
impossible to believe that any travellers who wished to proceed to
Ceylon in the fifth century B.C., from a district lying between Anga
and Vanga, and probably within a few miles of a port from which
vessels sailed, would not step on board a ship at their own doors, so
to speak, rather than undertake an arduous journey across several
other countries, in order to embark at a port more than eight
hundred miles away in a direct line, which when reached was still no
nearer their destination.

In any case, there is no likelihood that a large number of women

and children were taken, unless we are prepared to accept the
improbable hypothesis that a fleet of ships was expressly chartered
for the voyage. In the case of the small vessels which ventured on
such long trading expeditions, every foot of storage space would be
required for the goods that were carried, and for the accommodation
of the merchants who went to exchange these for the products of
the ports at which they called. It is most unlikely that many other
passengers were ever carried so far in Indian ships in early times,
notwithstanding fanciful tales of imaginary ships with hundreds on
board, in the Jātaka stories.

Niśśanka-Malla and his brother do not claim that the Sinhapura at

which they were born was the city founded by Wijaya’s father. It is
possible, however, that they could trace some distant connexion with
the Lāḷa family, and it has been noted already that Wijaya’s great-
great-grandfather was said to be a king of Kālinga.
Note.
With regard to the exorcism of the flies, I give a relation of the
similar treatment of locusts in Abyssinia, by Father Francis Alvarez,
who visited that country in 1520, in the suite of a Portuguese
Ambassador. The account is appended in Pory’s translation of the
History of Africa, by Leo Africanus, 1600, p. 352. An appeal having
been made to Alvarez to drive away an enormous flight of locusts,
“which to our iudgement couered fower and twentie miles of lande,”
the following is his own record of the proceedings:—

“And so I went to the Ambassadour, and told him, that it would be

very good to goe on procession, beseeching God that hee woulde
deliuer the countrie, who peraduenture in his great mercie might
heare vs. This liked the Ambassadour very well: and the day
following we gathered togither the people of the land, with all the
priests, and taking the consecrated stone, and the crosse, according
to their custome, all we Portugals sung the Letanie, and appointed
those of the land, that they should lift vp their voices aloud as we
did, saying in their language Zio marina Christos, which is as much
to say, as Lord God haue mercy vpon vs: and with this manner of
inuocation we went ouer a peece of grounde, where there were
fieldes of wheate, for the space of a mile, euen to a little hill: and
heere I caused many of these locustes to be taken, pronouncing
ouer them a certaine coniuration, which I had about me in writing,
hauing made it that night, requesting, admonishing, and
excommunicating them, enioining them within the space of three
howers to depart towards the sea, or the lande of the Moores, or the
desert mountaines, and to let the Christians alone: and they not
performing this, I summoned and charged the birdes of heauen, the
beasts of the earth, and all sorts of tempests, to scatter, destroy, and
eate vp their bodies: and to this effect I tooke a quantitie of locusts,
making this admonition to them present, in the behalfe likewise of
them absent,6 and so giuing them libertie, I suffered them to depart.
It pleased God to heare us sinners, for in our returne home, they
came so thicke vpon our backes, as it seemed that they woulde
haue broken our heads, or shoulders, so hard they strooke against
vs, as if we had beene beaten with stones and cudgels, and in this
sort they went towards the sea: The men, women, and children
remaining at home, were gotten vpon the tops, or tarrasses of their
houses, giuing God thankes that the locusts were going away, some
afore, and others followed. In the meane while towardes the sea,
there arose a great cloude with thunder, which met them full in the
teeth, and continued for the space of three howers with much raine,
and tempest, that filled all the riuers, and when the raine ceased, it
was a fearefull thing to behold the dead Locustes, which were more
then two yardes [marginal note, or fathomes] in height vpon the
bankes of the riuers, and in some riuers there were mightie heapes
of them, so that the morning following there was not one of them
found aliue vpon the earth.”

1 See note at the end of the Introduction. ↑

2 Cf. Jātaka, No. 206 (vol. ii, p. 106). ↑
3 From the Tamil kuppam, a village of small houses, perhaps + ayam, ground. ↑
4 The Tamil stories of Mariyada Rāman, or some of them, are known in one
district. Arabic is unknown. ↑
5 Folk-Tales of Kashmir, Knowles, 2nd ed., pp. 258 and 331. ↑
6 Āgata anāgata, as the early cave inscriptions say. ↑
Part I
STORIES TOLD BY THE CULTIVATING CASTE AND
VAEDDĀS.
No. 1
 The Making of the Great Earth
From the earliest time, the whole of this world, being filled up and
overflowed by a great rain, and being completely destroyed, was in
darkness. There were neither men, nor living beings, nor anything
whatever.

During the time while it was in this state, Great Vishnu thought, “In
what manner, having lowered the water, should the earth be
established?” Having thought this, Great Vishnu went to the God
Saman. Having gone there, he asked at the hand of the God Saman,
“What is the way to establish this earth?”

The God Saman replied, “There is no one among us [gods] who can
establish this earth.”

Thereupon the God Great Vishnu asked, “Then who is able to do it?”

The God Saman said, “You must go to the residence of Rāhu; he can
do it.”

After that, the God Great Vishnu went to the abode of Rāhu, and
spoke to Rāhu, the Asura Chief1: “Rāhu, Asura Chief, our residence
has been swallowed up by water; on account of that can even you
make us an earth?”

Then Rāhu, the Asura Chief, said, “Countless beings having gone to
the world of Brahmā (i.e., having been destroyed in the water), how
can I descend into the water which is there?”

The God Great Vishnu asked, “In what way, then, can you make the
earth?”

Rāhu told him to put a lotus seed into the water.

After that, the God Great Vishnu, having returned to this world,
placed a lotus seed in the water. Having placed it there, in seven
days the lotus seed sprouted.

Then the God Vishnu again went to the dwelling-place of Rāhu.

Having gone there, he spoke to Rāhu, the Asura Chief: “The lotus
plant has now sprouted.”

Afterwards Rāhu arose, and came with the God Vishnu to this world.
Having made ready to descend into the water, he asked Great
Vishnu, “What thing am I to bring up from the bottom of the water?”

Then Great Vishnu said, “I do not want any [special] thing; bring a
handful of sand.”

Rāhu, having said “Hā” (Yes), descending along that lotus stalk
proceeded until he met with the earth. Having descended to the
earth in seven days, taking a handful of sand he returned to the
surface again in seven days more. Having come there, he gave the
handful of sand into the hand of the God Great Vishnu.

After it was given, taking it and squeezing it in his hand, the God
Great Vishnu placed it on the water. Having placed it there the God
Great Vishnu made the resolution: “This water having dried up, may
the Earth be created.”

Afterwards, that small quantity of sand not going to the bottom, but
turning and turning round on the surface of the water, the water
began to diminish. Thus, in that manner, in three months and three-
quarters of the moon, the water having diminished, the earth was
made.

After it was formed, this world was there in darkness for a long time.
[After the light had appeared], the God Great Vishnu thought: “We
must make men.”