by Gamini G. Punchihewa
'Vanaveduna Dostara' (Sinhala translation of Dr. R. L. Spittel's biography 'Surgeon of the Wilderness' written by her daughter Christine and translated by Premachandra Alwis)

Published by Sooriya Publishers - Colombo 10 and printed by S. Andrew S. Printers, Colombo 9.

Vana VedunaDostara' (the Sinhala translation of 'Surgeon of The Wilderness') biography of Dr. R. L. Spittel written by his daughter Christine Wilson and translated by Premachandra Alwis is out.

The book launching took place recently at the auditorium of the National Library Services Board. The first copy was presented to Mr. Alistair Wilson (husband of Christine Wilson as she was not well to be present herself).

Among the speakers were Professor Vinie Vitharana, Sarath Chandra Jayakody and this writer as he was associated with the Veddahs and Dr. Spittel in the past. The ceremony was chaired by Mr. G. S. Perera (a former Editor of 'Dinamina).

Glimpses of the past
From among the many books published on Sri Lanka's culture and civilisation by her western rulers were translated into Sinhalese (Knox Dutu Lankawa').

'An Historical Relation of the Island of Ceylon by Robert Knox (1673 A.D.) and the other John Still's book about jungle life - titled 'Jungle Tide'.

'Vana Veduna Dostara deals with the biography of Dr. Spittel a pioneer surgeon and a prolific writer on our aborigines the Veddas.

Among his other books translated into Sinhala are 'Sudu Gona' (Where the White Sambhur Roams') Sudu Vedda' (Wild White Boy'), 'Vana Sarana' ('Savage Sanctuary' - the immortal story of outlaw Tissahamy), 'Mekie Giya Dadamang' ('Vanished Trails') and Lakbime thawath Yugayak' (Far Off Things').

The Sinhala translation of 'Far Off Things' was also a done by the translator Premachandra Alwis of 'Vana Veduna Dostara'.

'Vana Veduna Dostara' book cover has Dr. Spittel resting in the jungle which he loved to trek to meet his Veddah friends!

All the English poems written by Dr. Spittel are faithfully translated by Premachandra Alwis.

Premachandra Alwis's translation of this book is perfect and peerless.

The words in the text are simple and the Sinhala title - 'Vana Veduna Dostara' aptly fits its rendering.

This is a real masterpiece of Sinhala translation that should adorn all school libraries and universities.

In spite of one arm being injured due to a serious infection and the other stiffened by a badly set forearm, Dr. Spittel worked as a surgeon but also visited his Veddah friends in the jungles.

From her childhood Christine Wilson his daughter accompanied her father along the jungle trails in search of Veddas and even shared the rigours of jungle camping.

This book contains three sections running into 45 chapters - well documented with perfect renderings in Sinhala.

Two sections of the book deal with the life and times of Dr. R. L. Spittel from his birth, his parents and his childhood days spent in Tangalla where his father Dr. Fredrick Spittel an Edinburgh qualified Provincial Surgeon, practised.

Dr. Fredrick was a lover of nature and had encouraged his children to explore the nests, recognised one bird from another, imitate their calls and know their ways."

It was in Tangalla that 'Richard Lionel Spittel learnt to study nature by close observations'.

Dr. Spittel's first schooling was in Puttalam. From where he was sent to a boarding school run by Rev. Waltham in Kurunegala 52 miles away which was reached after a three day journey by bullock cart!

Later when his father was transferred to Galle and from there entered Royal College and later the Medical College where he met his future wife's Clariabel Van Dort daughter of one of Ceylon's most distinguished and richest physicians - Dr. W. W. Van Dort.

Claribel was schooled in London and had returned to Ceylon and entered Medical College, Colombo. Both R.L.S. and Claribel after qualifying left for England where R.L. passed the coveted Fellowship of the Royal College of Surgeons in England.

Dr. R. L. was appointed as the third surgeon at the General Hospital, Colombo.

Dr. R. L.S. and Claribel were married at St. Michael and All Angels' Church, Colombo.

Christine Wilson recalls in her father's biography of the then living conditions - "when a chicken cost about 2 1/2 d and six eggs cost about 1/2 d.....Richard's government salary as third Surgeon.... was only 13 pounds a month - a hundred and seventy five rupees!"

His wife Claribel, Edinbourgh qualified anaesthetist assisted Dr. Spittel in his operations.

His urge to search for the jungle solitude and the Veddas came when his daughter Christine was a child. He once shot a deer, and finding that it was a doe with its fawn lying by its side.

This emotional and tragic scene is described by Christine Wilson: "...approaching it, he saw with blinding self-disgust the tear ducts of its mild, dying eyes and then with even greater horror he noticed a young fawn standing mutely by "Then in agonizing sorrow he had written a fitting epitaph in the form of a poem tiled 'Wounded Doe'. This poem too has been well translated into Sinhala by Premachandra Alwis.

Christine Wilson further adds to this sorrowful episode. "It is a strange anomaly that those who have known the wild places most intimately, and have been the keenest hunters, in time became the most fervant wild life conservationists.

The innocence of the wild and their vulnerability hits the hunter unexpectedly like one of his lethal bullets, and he tries to protect the very beast he once was thrilled to kill. So it was with Richard Spittel."

Once when Dr. R. L. S. was busy in his library writing notes on Veddas whom he had met in the jungle, his daughter Christine Wilson, then a child walked in and asked her father 'why are you always writing all this rubbish when - 'You are surgeon."

He rubbed his chin and the vestige of a smile twitched one corner of his lips. "My dear child, long after I and everything I may have achieved as a surgeon are forgotten, perhaps, this may live a little longer."

"He tried to make her understand." The Veddas are one of the world's oldest living races. I have to record it as for posterity.

Christine Wilson is an authoress. Her books are 'The Bitter Berry' (This book was translated into Sinhala as "Thiththa Kopi). "The Mountain Road." "I am the Wings" "The Tea Plantations of Ceylon", "Secrets of Eastern Cooking", and "Brave Island-co-authored with Richard Spittel.

Among Spittel's absorbing books is 'Savage Sanctuary, portraying the poignant, and true story of the life and times of outlaw Tissahamy labelled as a murder/meenimaruwa.

Tissahamy after his return from the hide out atop Frairs Hood (Valimba kanda in Gal Oya Valley) surrendered himself to the law and was in remand jail in Badulla, his closest hura - Dr. Spittel was there when Tissahamy's death occurred in the Badulla hospital in the 1950's.

To perpetuate Spittel's immortal character - Tissahamy of 'Savage Sanctuary' he erected a tomb over Tissahamy's mortal remains with a fitting epitaph etched on the stone tomb lying there to say "Here lies outlaw Tissahamy of Savage Sanctuary by Dr. R. L. Spittel at the Badulla Cemetery. In the late 1980's the Outlaw Tissahamy's tomb erected in the Badulla Cemetery.

Richard Lionel Spittel according to Christine Wilson once said, "If I die give me a Vedda funeral. Bury me between two slates of bark in the jungle. I can think of nothing better."

It was not be so, Dr. R. L. Spittel, CMG died simply and with dignity in his own home 'Wycherly' in Colombo on the 3rd of September 1979 at the ripe old age of 86 years.

The nation should be ever grateful to the translator Premachandra Alwis for his excellent Sinhala translations of 'Vana Veduna Dostara' - Surgeon of the Wilderness' and his earlier translation of Spittel's 'Far Off Things' and of Leonard Wolf's autobiography' - 'Lakbime Sath Vasak'. He deserves a presidential award for his services rendered in translating of Dr. Spittel's books for the benefit of the Sinhala reading public.