The Ali
Who should be Lords of all they survey, these patient giants of the forest and stream have been made slaves of the most recent inhabitants of the land. Bravely wearing heavy chains too many of the Ali - Sri Lankan elephants - still do heavy tasks for unkind masters.
A young herd of elephants at the Elephant Orphanage at Pinawella just outside Kandy
A more senior elephant at the orphanage is heading off to work in the ubiquitous chains.
Elsewhere a working elephant has its daily bath with keepers who in this case also care deeply for him.
The Veddah
The stunningly sophisticated semi abstraction of an animal decorates the mud wall in a Veddah village near Mahiyanganaya - where a stupa marks the site of Gautama's first visit to the indigenous people.
A Veddah tribesman directed us to take the path to his village. His dravadian features hint at his people's affinity to the Andrha tribes on the Indian subcontinent and the Kouri and Murri peoples of the Australian continent.
We were conducted into the presence of the Tribal leader or King. With great patience and grace he received each of us individually and answered questions that ranged from the profound to the inane. Few Sri Lankans, like people everywhere, are conscious of any debt owed or reconciliation required to the greatly wronged indigenous people of the world.
The boy in the village may have been working clay like his Veddah forebears but the subject of his modelling was the racey looking motorbike behind him.
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