THEY NEVER LAUGH

Evening Post, Volume CIV, Issue 150, 22 December 1922, Page 18

THEY NEVER LAUGH

'ABORIGINAL INHABITANTS OF ••;-,• .CEYLON.; ■ . Laughter, and the faculty of being merry and bright, are gifts of the gads %o a, worldin .which there is not too much sunshine at-any time. But this gift, according to the scientists who know all about these subjects, has been denied to the Veddas, the aboriginal inhabitants of Ceylon. They are the only people m the world who never la.ugh, and in consequence they are thin arid flabby folk, and a fat man among the Veddas would be an extraordinary sight for sad eyes. A traveller who has studied the early races in Ceylon gives some interesting particulars about .this curioue tribe (says the' "Pall Mall Gazette"). .'■ For nearly 2000 years, according, to the best chronicles, these people, now almost extinct, .have.. observed the same characteristics, and no pne, so far as history reveals, has ever.seen a smile on the face of one of them, or heard a lau^h ,while in their section of Ceylon. The \Veddas are divided into three distinct gronpa, the rock Veddas, who dwell almost entirely amongst the Bintenne jungles in caves or clefts in the rock, and who aTe skilfiil archers, bringing down bats, owls, crows, and kites, which constitute their principal food. Why these people do not smile is a mystery. They alone of all the people on the earth know, nothing of tho sensation of laughter. A scientist, who recently journeyed to Ceylon for the purpose of investigating this question, persuaded some of them to permit him to tickle them in the ribs and in the middle of their feet with straws, and never caught even a flicker of- a smile on their faces, nor did he ever succeed in making one of them squirm and laugh aloud during the operation. ■ Another strange thing about ' the Veddas, and one which may possibly be.connected with their lack of humour,, is trie fact that every one of them is a George Washington, unable to tell a lie' or to conceive of anyone telling a lie. iThey cannot even believe that ariyone .would take the property of anyone else, and-the association with civilisation hasfailed to convince them that it is possible. With all this—or, rather, without all this—the Vedda's are a peaceable, gentle, quiet people. They take wives iwithout any marriage ceremony, and are faithful and constant to them/ supporting them to death.