Robert Knox mentioned that “of these Natives there be two sorts wild and tame… For as in these woods there are wild beasts so wild men also. The land of Bintan is all covered with mighty woods filled with abundance of deer. In this Land are many of these wild men; they call themselves Vaddahs, dwelling near no other inhabitants. They speak the Chingulayes language. They kill deer, and dry the flesh over the fire, and the people of the country come and buy it of them. They never till any ground for corn, their food being only flesh. They are very expert with their bows. They have a little axe, which they stick by their sides, to cut honey out of hollow trees… They have no towns nor houses, only live by the waters under a tree, with some bought cut and laid about them, to give notice when any wild beasts come near, which they may hear by their rustling and trampling upon them”.
There is an information in Seligmanns’ book that Sinhalese of Vedirata told them that Veddah chiefs pay and offering to royal household in Kandy of honey, wax, and king might also invite their presence on special occasions. Each wanniya bring with him a ceremonial fanlike ornament (which was still used by the Sinhalese chiefs) called “awupata” (literally “fan”), with an ornament made of wood or ivory on the top called “koraṇḍuwa” or “kota” (Seligmann 1911). Before the introducing of money, the barter was common. Trading places called “wadia” near the caves, but out of sight of them, under a tree or rock, were used for bartering.
There are four traditional occupations of the “Wanniyala-aetto”: hunting and gathering, slash-and-burn cultivation and livestock herding, all combined with temporary employment as unskilled labors (digging wells or ditches, carrying soil, breaking stone or road construction).
Every Veddah man carried a bow and arrows (“tudaāi” – a number of arrows carried). For fletching used the feathers of the forest eagle owl (Huhua nipalensis), hawk-eagle (Spiraetus nipalensis kelaartii) and crested honey buzzard (Pernis apivorus ruficollis) (Stegeborn 1993), but also the feathers of peacocks, herons and hawks were used (Bailey 1863). The bow and arrows made up the characteristic weapon of the Veddahs. The bow was of the simple type – the double bend bow or the cross bow was not known to the Veddahs. The bows were made of peeled and shaved saplings of the “kobbe” tree (Allophylus cobbe) and bow-strings were made from the inner cortex of the “aralui” bark (Terminalia chebula). Arrow shafts must be straight and light so welan wood perfectly suited this purpose. Today the bow and arrows are almost only used for instructing and training young boys.
The Veddahs have learnt the use of the spring noose, dead fall and trap gun (Spittel 1957). Fish were caught and eaten when other food is scarce. The commonest method of catching the fish was to bale the water. A section of the stream was banked and the fish were stupefied by muddying or poisoning the water. The poison-bearing material was crushed and thrown into the pool or banked waterways. The water was stirred and as it got stained the fish become restless and stupefied. The fish leaped on the bank or fleet on the surface with belly upwards. Then it was easily collected (Spittel 1957). The fish could have also been dried over a trestle.
According to Knox, those Veddah who need a new arrow, should bring a deer flesh or honey to the blacksmith, and also a leaf “cut in the form they will have their arrows made”. Knox described the traditional method of preserving flesh: by putting flesh with honey in the hollow of the tree and stopping the hollow by the clay. Very interesting is the description of customs of giving hunting dogs with young girls while marriages, and traditions of leaving homes by Sinhalese to live with Veddah (Knox 1681). The steel heads of the axes were obtained from the local blacksmiths by bartering skins, honey and meat. So are the other steel implements such as arrow-heads, areca-nut cutters and strike-a-light obtained. No other cutting implement or knife was used.
For trapping they employed poles, sticks, twigs and strings made from the bark of the “riti” tree (Antiaris innoxia). In 20th century the Wanniyala-aetto changed their hunting tools to muzzle-loaders, shutguns and knives, but still used traditional axes.
The summer dry season is the principal collecting time. Both women and men gathered. After a rain, mushrooms spread in the old chenas. Medicinal herbs are also collected by the family of the medicine-man. Only men hunted and trapped large animals; women snared small animals and birds. The spotted deer, the Asian sambhur deer (Cervus unicolor) and wild boar were favorite game animals. Monkeys, langurs, mouse deer, pangolins, mangoose, hares, monitor lizards were also taken (Stegeborn 1999). Wanniyala-aetto were not found of eating birds, neither wild nor domesticated. Notes (1901) mentioned that Wanniyala-aetto didn’t eat buffalo and porcupine, but Wiweca Stegeborn (1993) named porcupine in the list of the game they hunted. No one hunted elephants. Monkey skin was also used to make a betel pouch.
Once an animal was killed, there were many chores to accomplish. A large animal was chopped up and smoked to lighten the burden of carrying it back to the hamlet. Firewood needed to be collected, smoking tables needed to be constructed and the meat was sliced into thin strips. With a large animal such as sambhur, the butchering and smoking might have taken twelve to eighteen hours.
Sometimes close collaboration is required by several men to butcher and carry the game back home. Large parties formed if the resources were plentiful as for example when the trees were heavy with mora (Niphelium longana) and tamarind berries (Dialium ovideum).
In the dry season, tree blossom and bees are active. The men searched for honey and beeswax, principal items of trade. The favorite bees were the Apis indica and the Apis dorsata. Wanniyala-aetto had secret places, passed from generation to generation, where they went to collect honey and beeswax. They also collected barks (which used to make cloth bags), sap and resins, while women gathered medicinal herbs, leaves, berries and nuts, most of which were sold to Sinhalese pedlars. Honey was also a useful medium for barter with the Moor traders and the neighboring villagers. The Sinhalese use it for medical purposes (Wijesekera 1964). The Veddahs eat the larvae and wax with the honey.
No one is denied access to the natural resources on which all of them depend. No individual owns the forest. The families have equal rights to acquire these resources but each extended family knows its traditional hunting and “chena” circles and those are respected by others. Hunting grounds were strongly marked for every “warige” (clan), and the intruder would be killed and his liver taken, then the piece dried in the sun in a secret place was keeping in betel pouch. No other part of the dead man had been used and such a custom gave rise neither to warfare not to vendettas (Tennent 1860). The Wanniyala-aetto do not have the economic base to sustain a military effort for a protracted period. They are not accustomed to being organized that can be mobilize or draft warriors, direct them and give them reasons to fight, so a war can’t be conducted. There is not much to gain by plundering other Wanniyala-aetto people. There are no standard items of exchange that serve as capital or as valuables, and the material wealth of these hunters and gatherers is inconsiderable.
Males started to learn the skills of tracking and hunting around the age of ten to eleven years. A boy was given his first bow as soon as he has been able to hold one (around three years old). This type of bow was basically built on the same principle as the slingshot; it was strung with two cords, connected at the centre by a one centimeter wide woven fiber mat. A small stone was placed in the mat and firmly gripped between the thumb and the fingers. When they were eight to nine years old they collected honey together. At the age of eleven, twelve or thirteen years, a boy started to accompany his father on one-day hunting trips.
There are no full-time specialists among the Wanniyala-aetto. The shaman, for example, only exercise his craft upon request – he passes his days like everyone else. His sons may or may not become a shaman – no one insists, if the sons are not interested in that. Seligmanns stated (1911) that sometimes at Village Veddahs (i.e. in Horaborawewa) the shaman could be the