Savage Sanctuary + Vanished Trails + Where the White Sambhur Roams + Wild White Boy
Listed Price – Rs. 3630/=
Our Price – Rs. 3449/=
Savage Sanctuary
Author: R.L.Spittel
Publisher: Sooriya Publishers
Third Batch 2000
ISBN 978-955-9348-93-0
285 Page
“Novels about Ceylon, or even with a Cingalese background, are far and few between. Yet there are few lands which present such an intriguing atmosphere against which to exercise the novelist’s imagination. SAVAGE SANCTUARY by R.L.Spittel is a story dealing with the Veddas, the aborigines of Ceylon, a race now almost extinct. Mr.Spittel made a personal investigation in the jungle retreats where the remnants of the Veddas still live their strange lives, and here he heard at first hand the dramatic tale of the life and adventures of Tissahamy, the Vedda Outlaw.
It is a fascinating drama, with the Ceylon jungle for it’ s moving stage. Mr. Spittel has made a profound study of the Veddas from an anthropological viewpoint, but is book is far more than that. It is also a powerful and moving record of the fight between the virile representative of a dying race, who typifies all that is best and worst in that race, and the resources of civilization.
“We watch Tissahamy from his youth, going his way, working his will, heedless of reprimands, disregarding the law, taking what he wanted where he found it, ruthless alike in love and war, matching his wits against the wild animals of the forest and against the power of the law as represented by armed police. He is never caught, although his family is scattered and some of them killed in the mad hunt which follows a series of murders by himself and his eldest son. Though his cruelty to his wife is horrible, yet he is a loyal father to his children, and one cannot help a sneaking sympathy for a savage who in many ways has the instincts of a Robin Hood.
There is wealth of material dealing with the habits and character of the Veddas and the jungle background is magnificently painted. The scraper – board illustrations by Cooke illumine the pages, and are by no means the least interesting feature of the book.”
– Montreal Daily Star (Review on American Edition – 1942)
#SavageSanctury #RLSpittle #EnglishBooks #HistryofSriLanka
Vanished Trails
Author: R. L. Spittel
Publisher: Sooriya Publishers
Sooriya Edition 2001
ISBN 978-955-8425-28-1
275 pages
How this book was received:
In my view Dr. Spittel’s VANISHED TRAILS is something more than a novel. It is the Saga of Veddas, a Saga related by real brand.
Dr. N. D. Wijesekara in TIMES OF CEYLON
…..the ordinary reader will find this work delightful and deeply moving.
- Elwin in ILLUSTATED WEEKLY OF INDIA
We are greatly indebted to the author for his fascinating book which is rich in first-hand information.
Dr. Greafe in MYINDIA
VANISHED TRAILS fulfills its purpose of making us understand the Veddas better while we derive genuine pleasure from a true story that has a quality lacking in some of the most thrilling fiction. The illustrations by Gordon Davey – young artist who was on war/service in Ceylon and whose work impressed discerning local critics – enhance the value of the book.
- J. in CEYLON DAILY NEWS
#Vedda #RLSpittel #GordonDavey #ceylon
Where the White Sambhur Roams
Author: R. L. Spittel
Publisher: Sooriya Publishers
Third Edition 2013
ISBN 978-955-9348-74-4
255 pages
This is a story about Hans van der Meer, a Dutch boy, who at fourteen is shipwrecked on the island of Ceylon, and whose remarkable gift for making friends with wild animals leads him into captivity at the Court of the King of Kandy. It was a time when Dutch were battling for supremacy over Portuguese, and when the Veddas, the aboriginal tribesmen, lived there own life in the dense jungle much as they do today.
There is incident and excitement in this story of adventure, but outstanding are the vivid descriptions of bird, animal and aboriginal life as it was lived under the savage law of the jungle: an attack by an infuriated mother bear with cubs, the trapping of as elusive leopard, a battle to the death between python and crocodile.
The author R. L. Spittel C.M.G., C.B.E., F.R.C.S., was a surgeon by profession and a descendant of the Dutch pioneers who established themselves in Ceylon under the Dutch East India Company in the 17th century. He has travelled extensively in the remote jungles of the island in the company of last remnants of the Vedda aborigines, of whom he made a special study. Whatever he says of the life of the Ceylon jungle has personal experience behind it.
The story of Hans continues in WILD WHITE BOY.
#RLSpittel #Ceylon #Vedda #aborigines #DutchBoy #aboriginalLife #jungle #CeylonJungle
Wild White Boy
Author: R. L. Spittel
Publisher: Sooriya Publishers
Third Edition 2001
ISBN 978-955-9348-61-2
144 pages
Living in the Ceylon Jungle
This is a story about Hans van der Meer, a Dutch boy, who at fourteen is shipwrecked on the island of Ceylon, and whose remarkable gift for making friends with wild animals leads him into captivity at the Court of the King of Kandy. It was a time when Dutch were battling for supremacy over Portuguese, and when the Veddas, the aboriginal tribesmen, lived their own life in the dense jungle much as they do today.
There is incident and excitement in this story of adventure, but outstanding are the vivid descriptions of bird, animal and aboriginal life as it was lived under the savage law of the jungle: an attack by an infuriated mother bear with cubs, the trapping of as elusive leopard, a battle to the death between python and crocodile.
The author R. L. Spittel C.M.G., C.B.E., F.R.C.S., was a surgeon by profession and a descendant of the Dutch pioneers who established themselves in Ceylon under the Dutch East India Company in the 17th century. He has travelled extensively in the remote jungles of the island in the company of last remnants of the Vedda aborigines, of whom he made a special study. Whatever he says of the life of the Ceylon jungle has personal experience behind it.
#ceylon #vedda #ceylonjungle #RLSpittel # aborigines #dutchboy
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