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THE CEYLON EXHIBIT.

The Lace industry was probably introduced into Ceylon by
the Portuguese, and it is chiefly carried on at present by women
in the neighbourhood of Galle and Colombo. There is a
representative exhibit, including the pillow and bobbins
employed, shown by the Ceylon Government, while the Galle
Convent, which ig doing such excellent work among the
Sinhalese, shows trade samples of the lace made by the
girlstaught there. A remarkable piece of cotton lace, 30 in.
wide, is exhibited by Jayatilleke Hamine of Matara,
The specimens of Arms shown are characterized more by
their beauty than their destructive capacity. The weapons
carried by the foot soldier when the Portuguese brought their
gunpowder into the country at the beginning of the sixteenth
century are well illustrated by the handsome spears with
lacquered handles exhibited by the Ceylon Government, and
by the bows and arrows carried by the clay figure of the
Vedda. Shields are no longer found in the country, save
the ceremonial ones in use at temples. The elaborate milifary
 system of the Sinhalese was carefully continued by the
Dutch, and all who held land on military tenure were enrolled
in companies or ranchus of twenty-four soldiers under the
command of an Arachchi, six to twelve ranchus being
allotted to each Mudaliyar or District Chief. Though guns
and small cannon of excellent local make were largely used
by the Sinhalese in their wars with Europeans, a hundred
years of peace and cheap imported guns have practically
killed the manufacture. A cannon presented by a Sinhalese
nobleman to the Dutch Company in 1745 may now be seen
#t the Museum at Amsterdam.
The sword and the dagger mark the grade of the wearer,
though the distinetions which marked inferiority of caste
are no longer adhered to. The Maha or Chief Mudaliyar
is alone entitled to wear a sword in a goldscabbard. Mr. E.
R. Jayatilleke Gooneratne, Mudaliyar, exhibits a Specimen
of ‘the sword usually worn, as well as a mourning sword
of tortoise-shell. The Chiefs of the Kandyan Provinces
usually wear daggers, though several of their swords are
also on view. Special attention is invited to the exquisite
design and finish of the silver-mounted daggers exhibited
by Mr. P. BE. Pieris, C.C.8., and the silver styli for writing
on palm leaves which accompany them. The handles are
asually of ivory and rhinoceros or buffalo horn, though
jade and crystal are sometimes used. There ig also a small
exhibit of the modern village dagger, which ig chiefly nged by
criminals, as well as of a gun made by a village blacksmith.
Ceylon is famous as a field for the sportsman, and the
Government is exhibiting a representative collection of