r )s« im: -^J"Mr\. ^U-fi'C r>f^ rs.r^^C^Cj.CNC^ mmmm :4 ./M^- ^y^^ ¥S The Robert E. Gross Collection A Memorial to the Founder of the Business Administration Library Los Angeles 'rPQi'^- .S#^ / / /' 'a'AM IaUJ. UL L L i jJJ ';^ii/-r":A^^A^L ^%^.m. •'■ S4«5.#'^■Ma/sJHi m C^r\^af^r\r\^fyr\^r\r\r\j r-'- '^ r^ r dT?^^ ^fXr- w^^^/i ^:-::^, ^'^f^m^ '1^^^ i-^ H'lA.^.. ^B 1 1^'!^ 40i mc'n CEYLON. VOL. I. LONDON PKINTIiD BT 8P0TIISW00DE AND TO NEW-STBEET SQUAEK CEYLON AN ACCOUNT OF THE ISLAND PHYSICAL, HISTOEICAL, AND TOPOGEAPHICAL NOTICES OF ITS NATURAL HISTORY, ANTIQUITIES AND PRODUCTIONS SIR JAMES EMERSON TENNENT, K.C.S. LL.D. Sec. ILLUSTEATED BY MAPS, PLANS AND DBA WINGS FOimTH EDITION, THOROUGHLY REVISED VOLUME L LONDON LONGIklAN, GREEN, LONGMAN, AND ROBERTS 18G0 Gross Collection Bus. AcJm. Lib. CONTENTS THE PIRST VOLUME. ^' ' PART I. PHYSICAL GEOGRAPHY. CHAPTER I. GEOLOGY.— MINERALOGY. — GEMS. Page I. General Aspect. Singular beauty of the island . 3 Its ancient renown in conse- quence 4 Fable of its " perfumed winds " (jiote) 4 Character of the scenery . . 5 II. Geographical Position ... 6 Ancient views regarding it a- mongstthe Hindus, — "the Me- ridian of Lanka " , . .6 Buddhist traditions of former submersions . . . Quote) 7 Errors as to the dimensions of Ceylon 8 Opinions of Onesicritus, Eratos- thenes, Strabo, Pliny, Ptolemy, Agathemerus . . . . 8, 9 The Arabian geographers . . 9 Sumatra supposed to be Cevlon (note) 10 True latitude and longitude . 11 General Eraser's map of Ceylon {7iote) 1 1 Geological formation . . .12 Adam's Bridge . . . .13 Error of supposing Ceylon to be a detached fragment of India . 14 III. The Mninitaiti Si/steni . . 14 Remarkable hills, Mihintala and Sigiri 15 Little evidence of volcanic action 16 Rocks, gneiss . . . . IG Rock temples . . . .17 Laterite or " Cabook " . .17 Ancient nameTamba-panni {iiote) 17 Coral formation . . .19 Extraordinary wells . . .21 Darwin's theory of coral wells examined . . . (^note) 22 The soil of Ceylon generally poor 24 " Patenas," their phenomena ob- scure 24 Rice lands betAveen the hills . 2G Soil of the plains, " Talawas " . 27 IV. 3Ietals.—Tm ... 29 Gold, nickel, cobalt . . .29 Quicksilver . . . (iiote) 29 Iron 30 v. Minerals. — Anthracite, plumbago, kaolin, nitre caves . . .31 List of Cej'lon minerals . (note) 32 VI. Gems, ancient fame of . . 32 Rose-coloured quartz . . (note) 33 Mode of searching for gems . 34 Rubies oG Sapphire, topaz, garnet, and cinnamon stone, cat's-eye, amethyst, moonstone . ' 37, 33 Diamond not found in Cevlon \note) 38 Gem-finders and lapidaries . 39 VII. Rivers. — Their character . . 40 The Mahawelli-ganga . . 41 Table of the rivers . . .41 VIII. Singular coast formatio7i, and its causes . . . .43 The currents and their influence 44 Word "Gobb " explained 44, (note) 46 Vegetation of the sand forma- tions 48 Their suitability for the coco- nut 51 IX. Harbours. — Galle and Trinco- malie 52 Tides 52 Red infusoria . . . .53 Population of Ceylon . . .53 CHAP. IL CLIMATE. — HEALTH AND DISEASE. Uniformity of temperature . . 54 Brilliancy of foliage . . • . 5G Colombo. — January — long shore wind 56 February — cold nights . . («ofe) 57 March, April 58 3Iay — S.W. monsoon . • .58 Aspect of the country before it . 59 Lightning 60 Rain, its violence . . . .61 June ....... 62 A 3 1622072 VI CONTENTS or Page July and Angust, September, October, November. N.E. monsoon . . 63 December ...... 64 Annual quantity of rain in Ceylon and Hindustan . . . (note) 65 Opposite climates of the same moun- tain 66 Climate of Galle . . . .67 Kandy and its climate . . .67 Mists and hail 69 Climate of Trincomalie (text and note) 70 Jaffna and its climate . . .71 Waterspouts 72 Anthelia 73 Buddha rays 73 Ceylon as a sanatarium. — Neuera-ellia 74: Health 75 Malaria ...... 76 Food and wine . . .76, 77 EflFects of the climate of Ceylon on disease 79 Precautions for health . . .80 CHAP. III. VEGETATION. — TREES AKD PLANTS. The Flora of Ceylon imperfectly known 83 Vegetation similar to that of India and the Eastern Archipelago . . 84 Trees of the sea-borde. — Mangroves. — Screw-pines, Sonneratia . . 85 The Northern Plains. — Euphorbia? Cassia. — Mustard-tree of Scripture 87 Western coast. — Luxurious vegeta tion Eastern coast .... Pitcher plant.— Orchids . . .88 Vines 89 Botany of the Mountains. — Iron-wood, Bamboo, European fruit-trees . 90 Tea-plant — Rhododendron — Miche- lia 90 Eapid disappearance of dead trees in the forests . . . .91 Trees with natural buttresses . 91 Page 92 Flowering Trees. — Coral tree The Murutu — Imbul — Cotton tree — Champac The Upas Tree — Poisons of Ceylon The Banyan The Sacred Bo-tree The India Rubber- tree — The Snake- tree Kumbuk-tree: lime in its bark Curiotis Seeds. — The Dorian, Sterculia fatida . . . . 99, 100 The Sea Pomegranate . . .100 Stryclinos, curious belief as to its poison . . . . 101 Euphorbice — The Coiv-tree, error re- garding . . . (note) 101 Climbing plants, Epiphj'tes, and flow- ering creepers .... Orchids. — Brilliant terrestrial orchid, the Wanna-raja. — Square- stemmed Vine .... Gigantic climbing Plants . Enormous bean Bonduc seeds. — Ratans — Patau bridges .... Thorny Trees. — Raised as a natural fortification by the Kandyans The buffalo thorn. Acacia tomen tosa ..... Palms ..... Coco-nut — Talipat . Palmyra .... Jaggery Palm — Areca Palm Betel-chewing, its theory and uses Pingos ..... Timber Trees .... Jakwood— Del- Teak . Suria Calnnet Woods. — Satin-wood — Ebony — Cadooberia Calamander, its I'arity and beauty Tamarind .... Fruit-trees ..... Remarkable power of trees to gene- rate cold and keep their fruit chill Acjuntic Plants — Lotus, red and blue 123 Desmanthus natans, an aquatic sen- sitive plant 123 102 103 104 105 106 107 108 109 110 111 112 112 114 115 116 117 117 lis 119 119 121 PAET II. ZOOLOGY. CHAPTER I. JIAMJIALIA. Neglect of Zoology in Ceylon . . 127 Monkeys 128 Wanderoo 129 Error regarding the Silenus Ve- ter {note) 129 Presbytea Cephalopterus . . 130 P. Ursinus in the llillg . . 131 P. Thersites in the Wanny . . 132 P. Priamus, Jaffna and Trincomalie 132 No dead monkey ever found . . 133 Loris . . ' . . . .133 Bats 135 Flying fox 135 Horse-shoe bat .... 136 Carnivora.— Beavs . . . .137 Their ferocity .... 138 THE FIRST VOLUME. Vll Singhalese belief in the efficacy Piige of chanua . . . '{note) 139 Leopards . 139 Curious belief . 140 Anecdotes of leopards . . 142 Palm-cat . 14-t Civet . 144 Dogs . 144 Jackal . 145 The horn of the jackal . . 145 Mungoos . 145 Its fights with serpents , 146 Theory of its antidote . . 147 Squirrels 148 Flying squirrel . 148 Tree rat . 149 Story of a rat and a snake 149 Coffee rat .... 149 Bandicoot .... 150 Porcupine .... 150 Pengolin ..... 151 Ruminantia. — The Gaur . 151 Oxen 152 Humped cattle 152 Encounter of a cow and a leopard 153 Buffaloes .... 154 Sporting buffaloes 155 Peculiar structure of the hoof 155 Deer 15G Meminna 157 Elephants .... 158 Whales 158 General view of the mammalia of Ceylon 159 List of Ceylon mammalia . 159 Curious parasite of the bat (jnott) IGl CHAP. n. BIRDS. Their numbers .... 163 Songsters 163 Hornbills, the "bird with two heads' 164 Pea fowl 165 Sea birds, their number . 165 L Accipitres. — Eagles 166 Falcons and hawks 166 Owls — the devil bird . 167 II. Passeres. — Swallows . 167 Kingfishers — sunbirds 168 Bul-bul — tailor bird — and weave r 169 Crows, anecdotes of , 170 III. Scansores. — Parroquets 172 IV. Coltimbidis. — Pigeons 173 V. GalUiuB. — Jungle-fowl 174 VI. Grallce. — Ibis, stork, &c. 175 VII. Anserea. — Flamingoes 175 Pelicans .... 176 Game. — Partridges, &c. 176 List of Ceylon birds . 177 List of birds peculiar to Ceylon 180 CHAP. in. REPTILES. Lizards. — Iguana . . . .182 Kabragoya, barbarous custom in pre- paring the cobra-tel poison {/loie) 183 Page The green calotes . . . .184 Chameleon 184 Ceratophora 185 Geckoes, — their power of reproduc- ing limbs .... 185, 186 Crocodiles 186 Their power of burying themselves in the mud .'.... 187 Tortoises. — Curious parasite . . 188 Land tortoises . . . .189 Edible turtle 190 Huge Indian tortoises . {note) 190 Hawk's-bill turtle, barbarous mode of stripping it of the tortoise-shell 190 Serpents. — Venomous species rare . 191 Cobra de capello . . . .192 Instance of land snakes found at sea 193 Tame snakes . . . {note) 193 Singular tradition regarding the cobra de capello . . .194 UropeltidPE. — New species discover- ed in Ceylon . . . .195 Buddhist veneration for the co- bra de capello . . . 195 Anecdotes of snakes . . . 196 The Python 196 Water snakes .... 197 Snake stones 197 Analysis of one . . . .199 Cascilia 201 Large frogs 202 Tree frogs 202 List of Ceylon reptiles . . . 203 CHAP. IV. FISHES. Ichthyology of Ceylon, little known . 205 Fish for table, seir fish . . . 205 Sardines, poisonous ? . . . . 206 Sharks 207 Saw-fish 207 Fish of brilliant colours . . . 207 Curious fish described byyElian {note) 207 Fresh-water fish, little known, — not much eaten 208 Fresh-water fish in Colombo Lake . 209 Immense profusion of fish in the rivers and lakes .... 209 Their re-appearance after rain . . 209 Mode of fishing in the ponds . . 210 Showers offish 210 Conjecture that the ova are preserved, not tenable 212 Fish moving on drj' land . . , 213 Instances in Guiana . {note) 214 Perca Scandens, ascends trees .215 Doubts as to the story of Daldorf . 217 Fishes burying themselves during the dry season . . . . .218 The protopterus of the Gambia . 218 Instances in the fish of the Nile . 218 Instances in the fish of South Ame- rica 219 Living fish dug out of the ground in the dry tanks in Ceylon . 220 Other animals that so bury them- selves, Melaniae, Ampullaria;, &c. 220 A 4 VUl CONTENTS OF Page The animals that so bury them- selves in India . . (^note^ 220 Analogous case of . . (^note) 221 Theory of lestivation and hyberna- tion . . . . . .221 Fish in hot-water in Ceylon . . 224 List of Ceylon fishes .... 224 Instances of lishes falling from the Clouds 226 Overland migration of fishes known to the Greeks and Romans . . 227 Note on Ce^'lon fishes by Professor Huxley 229 Comparative note by Dr. Gray, Brit. Mus 231 CHAP. V. MOLLUSCA, RADIATA, AND ACALEPH^. I. ConchoJogy. — General character of Ceylon shells .... 233 Confusion regarding them in scientific works and collections 234 List of Ceylon shells , . ,235 II. Jtadlata. — Star fish Sea slugs Parasitic worms . Planaria III. AcalepluE, abundant Corals little kno^vn CHAP. VI. 244 245 245 245 24(j 246 INSECTS. Profusion of insects in Ceylon . . 247 Imperfect knowledge of . . . 247 I. Coleoptera. — Beetles • . . 248 Scavenger beetles . . . 249 Coco-nut beetles. . . . 249 Tortoise beetles .... 250 II. Orthoptera. — Mantis and leaf- in- sects 250 Stick-insects .... 252 III. Neurnptera. — Dragon flies . . 252 Ant-lion 252 White ants 253 note) rage 254 256 257 257 258 258 262 262 2G3 264 265 265 266 267 267 267 267 267 268 268 269 274 Anecdotes of their instinct and ravages . . {text and note) V. Hymenoptera. — Mason Wasps Wasps Bees .... Carpenter Bee Ants .... Burrowing ants . VI. Lepidoptera. — Butterflies Sylph. . . . LycasnidiB . Moths. Silk worms . (J.ext and Wood -carrying Moths Pterophorus VII. Homoptera Cicada VIII. Hemiptera Bugs . IX. Aphaniptera X. Diptera. — Mosquitoes General character of Ceylon insects List of insects in Ceylon . CHAP. VII. ARACHNID.E, MYRIOPODA, CKUSTACEA, ETC. Spiders 294 Strange nests of the wood spiders . 295 Olios Taprohanms .... 295 3Iygale fasciata .... 295 Ticks 296 Mites. — Tromhidium tinctorum . 297 Myriapods. — Centipedes . . . 297 Cermatia 298 Scolopendra crassa . . . 298 S. pollipes 299 3rdlipeds.—l\x\\X3 .... 299 Crustacea ...... 300 Calling crabs 300 Land crabs 301 Painted crabs . . . .301 Paddling crabs .... 301 Annelidce, Leeches.— The land leech . 302 Medical leech . . . .305 Cattle leech 306 List of Articulata, Sic. . . .307 PAET in. THE SINGHALESE CHRONICLES. CHAPTER L SOURCES OF SINGHALESE HISTORY. — THE MAHAWANSO. Ceylon formerly thought to have no authentic history . . . .311 Researches of Tumour . . .312 Biographical sketch of Turnour {note') 312 The Mahawanso .... 314 Recovery of the " tika " on the Ma- hawanso . . . . . Outline of the Mahawanso Tumour's epitome of Singhalese his- tory Historical proofs of the Mahawanso . Identity of Sandracottus and Chan- dragupta 315 315 316 317 318 Ancient map of Cejdon List of Ceylon sovereigns (note) 318 . 320 THE FIRST VOLUME. IX CHAP. II. THE AEORIGINES. Page Singhalese histories all illustrative of Buddhism 325 A Buddha 325 Gotama Buddha, his history . . 326 Amazing prevalence of his religion {note) 32G His three visits to Ceylon . . . 327 Inliabitants of the island at that time supposed to be of Malayan type . . . . _ . Legend of their Chinese ongm . Probably identical with the abori- gines of the Dekkan Common basis of their language Characteristics of vernacular Singha- lese State of the aborigines before Wi- jayo's invasion .... Story of Wijayo .... The natives of Ceylon described as Yakkos and Nagas . . .331 Traces of serpent -worship in Ceylon 331 Coincidence of the Mahawanso with the Odyssey . . . (,note) 332 327 328 328 328 329 330 330 CHAP. III. CONQUEST OF VFIJAYO, B.C. 543. — ESTA- BLISHMENT OF BUDDHISM, B.C. 307. Early commerce of Ceylon described by the Chinese .... 335 Wijayo as a colonizer . . . 33G His treatment of the native popula- tion 336 B.C. 505. His death and successors . 336 A number of petty kingdoms formed 337 Ceylon divided into three districts : Pihiti, Rohuna, and Maya . . 337 The village system established . . 337 Agriculture introduced . . . 338 Irrigation imported from India . . 338 The first tank constructed, b. c. 504 (note) 338 Rapid progress of the island . . 339 Toleration of Wijayo and his followers 339 Establishment of Buddhism, 307 n.c. 340 1' reaching of Mahindo . . . 340 Planting of the sacred Bo-tree . . 341 CHAP. IV. THE BUDDHIST MONUMENTS. Buddhist architecture introduced in Ceylon 344 The first dagobus built . . . 345 Their mode of construction and vast dimensions 346 The earliest Buddhist temples . . 346 Images and statues a later innovation 347 First residences of the priesthood . 347 Page The formation of monasteries and wi- haras 348 The first wihara built . . . 349 Form of the modern wiliaras . . 349 Inconvenient numbers of the Bud- dhist priesthood .... 350 Originally fed by the kings and the people 350 Caste annulled in the case of priests . 351 The priestly robe and its peculiarities 351 CHAP. V. SINGHALESE CHIVALRY. — ELALA AND DUTUGAIMUNU. Progress of civilisation . . . 352 The new settlers agriculturists . . 352 Malabars enlisted as soldiers and seamen 353 B.C. 237. The revolt of Sena and Gutika 353 B.C. 205. Usurpation of Elala . . 353 His character and renown . . . 353 The victory of Dutugaimunu . . 354 Progress of the south of the island . 355 Building of the great Ruauwelle Dagoba 355 Building of the Brazen Palace . . 356 Its vicissitudes and ruins . . . 357 Death and character of Dutugaimunu 358 CHAP. VI. THE INFLUENCES OF BUDDHISM ON CIVI- LISATION. The Mahawanse or Great Dynasty . 3G0 The Suluwanse or Inferior Dynasty . 360 Services rendered by the Great Dy- nasty 360 Frequent usurpations and the cause . 361 Disputed successions . . . .361 Rising influence of the priesthood . 362 B.C. 104. Their first endowment with land 363 Rapid increase of the temple estates . 364 Their possessions and their vow of poverty reconciled .... 364 Acquire the compulsory labour of temple-tenants .... 365 Impulse thus given to cultivation . 365 And to the construction of enormous tanks 365 Tanks conferred on the temples . 365 The great tank of Minery formed, A.D. 272 365 Subserviency of the kings to the priesthood 366 Large possessions of the temples at the present day .... 366 Cultivation of flowers for the temples 367 Their singular profusion . . . 367 Fruit trees planted by the Buddhist sovereigns 367 Edicts of Asoca 368 CONTENTS OF CHAP. VII. FATE OF THE ABORIGINES. Page Aborigines forced to labour for the new settlers 369 Immensity of the structures erected by them 370 Slow amalgamation of the natives with the strangers .... 370 The worship of snakes and demons continued 370 Treatment of the aborigines by the kings 371 Their formal disqualification for high office 371 Their rebellions 371 They retire into the mountains and forests 372 Their singular habits of sechision . 372 Traces of their customs at the present day 373 CHAP. VIII. EXTINCTION OF THE GREAT DYNASTY. r..c. 104. Walagam-bahu I. . . 374 His Avars with the Malabars . . 374 The South of Ceylon free from Malabar invasion 374 The Buddhist doctrines first formed into books 375 The formation of rock-temples . . 376 Apostacy of Chora Naga . . . 376 Ceylon governed by queens . . 377 Schisms in religion .... 377 Buddhism tolerant of heresy but in- tolerant of schism .... 378 Illustrations of Buddhist toleration . 377 Tolerance enjoined by Asoca . . 377 The Wytulian heresy . . . 377 Corruption of Buddhism by the impu- rities of BrahiKanism . . . 380 A.D. 275. Recantation and repentance of King Maha Sen ... -80 End of the Solar race . . .381 State of Ceylon at that period . . 381 Prosperity of the North . . . 381 Description of Anarajapoora in the fourth centurj' .... 382 Its municipal organisation . . 382 Its palaces and temples . . . 382 Popular error as to the area of the city (note) 383 Multitudes of the priesthood described by Fa Hian 384 CHAP. IX. KINGS OF THE LOWER DYNASTY. Sovereigns of the Lower Dynastj^, a feeble race 385 Kings who were sculptors, physicians, and poets ..... 386 Earliest notice of Foreign Embassies to Rome and to China . . . 387 Notices of Ceylou by Chinese Histo- rians 387 Page Fa Hian visits Ceylon a.d. 413 . 387 Anecdote related by Fa Hian (note) 388 History of " the Sacred Tooth " . 388 Murder of the king Dhatu Sena, a.d. 459 389 Infamous conduct of his son, . .391 The fortified rock Sigiri . . .392 CHAP. X. DOMINATION OF THE MALABARS. Origin of the Malabar invaders of Ceylon ...... 395 The ancient Indian kingdom of Pan- dya 395 Malabar mercenaries enlisted in Cey- lon ....... 395 B.C. 237. Revolt of Sena and Gutika 395 B.C. 205. Usurpation of Elala . . 396 B.C. 103. Second Malabar invasion . 396 A.D. 110. Third Malabar invasion . 396 Jewish evidence of Malabar con- quest .... (note) 396 A.D 433. Fourth Malabar invasion . 397 The influence of the Malabars firmlv established . . . . ^ 898 Distress of the Singhalese in the 7th century, as described by Hiouen Thsang 399 A.D. 642. Anarajapoora deserted, and PoUanarrua built .... 400 The Malabars did nothing to improve the island 401 A.D. 840. A fresh Malabar invasion . 401 The Singhalese seek to conciliate them by alliances .... 402 A.D. 990. Another iVlalabar invasion . 402 Extreme misery of the island . . 402 A.D. 1023. The Malabars seize PoUa- narrua and occupy the entire north of the island 403 CHAP. XI. THE REIGN OF PRAKRAMA BAKU. A.D. 1071. Recovery of the island from the Malabars . . . 404 Wijayo Bahu I. expels the Malabars 405 Birth of the Prince Prakrama . . 405 His character and renown . . . 405 Immense public works constructed by him 406 Restores the order of the Buddhist priesthood 406 Intercourse between Siam and Ceylon 400 Temples and sacred edifices built by Prakrama 407 The Gal-Wihara at PoUanarrua . 407 Ruins df PoUanarrua .... 408 Extraordinary extent of his works for irrigation ..... 409 Foreign wars of Prakrama . . 409 His conquests in India . . .410 The death of Prakrama Bahu . .410 THE FIRST VOLUME. XI CHAP. XII. PATE OF THE SINGHALESE MONARCHY. ARRIVAL OF THE PORTUGUESE. A.D. 1505. Page Prakrama Bahu, the last powerful kinff 411 Anarchy follows on his decease . .411 A.D. 1197. The Queen Leela-Wattee 412 A.D. 1211. Keturn of the Malabar invaders 412 The Malabars establish themselves at Jaffna 413 Early history of Jaffna . . . 413 A.D. 1235. The new capital at Dam- bedenia 413 Extending ruin of Ceylon . . 41 1 Kandy founded as a new capital . 414 Successive removals of the seat of Government to Yapahoo, Korne- galle, Gampola, Kand}', and Cotta 415 Ascendancy of the Malabars . . 415 A.D. 1410. The King of Ceylon car- ried captive to China . . . Aid Ceylon tributary to China . . . 417 Arrival of the Portuguese in Ceylon . 418 PART IV. SCIENCES AND SOCIAL ARTS. CHAPTER I. rorULATION, CASTE, SLAVERY, AND KAJA -KARIYA. Population encouraged by the fertility of Ceylon 421 Evidence of its former extent in the ruins of the tanks and canals . . 422 Means by which the population was preserved 423 Causes of its dispersion — the ruin of the tanks 424 Domestic life similar to that of the Hindus 425 Respect shown to females . . . 425 Caste perpetuated in detiance of reli- gious prohibition .... 425 Particulars in which caste in Cej'lon differs from caste in India . . 425 Slavery, borrowed from Hindustan . 425 Compulsory labour or Raja-kariya . 426 Mode of enforcing it . . . . 427 CHAP. II. AGRICULTURE, IRRIGATION, CATTLE, AND CROPS. Agriculture unknovm before the ar- rival of Wijayo .... 429 Rice was imported into Ceylon in the second century b.c. . . . 429 The practice of irrigation due to the Hindu kings 430 \'\^ho taught the science of irriga- tion to the Singhalese . (iwte) 430 The first tank constructed B.C. 504 . 431 Gardens and fruit-trees first planted 432 Value of artificial irrigation in the north of Ceylon .... 432 In the south of the island the rains sustain cultivation . . . 432 Two harvests in the year in the south of the island 432 In the north, where rains are uncer- tain, tanks indispensable . . 432 Irrigation the occupation of kings . 434 The municipal village-system of cul- tivation 434 "Assoedamislng " of rice lands in the mountains 434 Temple villages and their tenure . 434 Farm-stock buffaloes and cows . . 433 A Singhalese garden described . . 435 Coco-nut palm rarely mentioned in early writings .... 43G Doubt whether it be indigenous to Ceylon 436 The Mango and other fruits . . 437 Rice and curry mentioned in the second century b.c. . , . 437 Animal food used by the early Sin- ghalese 438 Betel, antiquity of the custom of chewing it 438 Intoxicating liquors known at an early period 439 CHAP. III. EARLY COMMERCE, SHIPPING, AND PRO- DUCTIONS. Trade entirely in the hands of stran- gers 410 Native shipping unconnected with commerce 440 Same indifference to trade prevails at this day 441 Singhalese boats all copied from fo- reign models 442 All sewn together and without iron . 442 Romance of the " Loadstone Island ' 443 The legend believed by Greeks and the Chinese 413 xu CONTENTS OF Page Vessels with two prows mentioned by Strabo 444 Foreign trade spoken of is.c. 204 . 444 Internal traffic in the ancient city of Ceylon 445 Merchants traversing the island . 445 Earlv exports from Ceylon, —gems, pearls, &c 445 The imports, chiefly manufactures . 446 Horses and carriages imported from India 447 Cloth, silk, &c., brought from Persia 447 Kashmir, intercourse with . . . 447 Edrisi's account of Ceylon trade in the twelfth century . . . 448 CHAP. IV. MANUFACTURES. Silknot produced in Ceylon . .450 Coir and cordage .... 450 Dress ; unshaped robes . . . 450 Manual and Mechanical Arts — Weav- ing 451 Priest's robes spun, woven, and dyed in a day 452 Peculiar mode of cutting out a priest's robe 4o2 Bleaching and dyeing . . . 452 Earliest artisans,' immigrants . •452 Handicrafts looked down on . . 453 Pottery 453 Glass 454 Glass mirrors 454 Leather 454 Wood carving 454 Chemical ylr^s— Sugar . . .455 Mineral paints 455 CtlAP. V. M'OKKLNG IN METALS. Early knowledge of the use of ir Steel Copper and its vises . Bells, bronze, lead Gold and silver . Plate and silver ware Ecd coral found at Galle . Jewelry and mounted gems Gilding.— Coin . Coins mentioned in the Mahawanso n. IMeaning of the term " massa " {iiote) Coins of Lokiswaira .... General device of Singhalese coins . Indian coinage of Prakrama Bahu . Eish-hook money .... {jnoW) 457 457 458 458 458 459 459 4fi0 4(50 400 401 461 462 403 CHAP, VI. ENGINEERING. Engineering taught by the Brali- mans 404 . 404 . 405 . 405 . 405 Pude methods of labour Militar}' engineering unknown Early attempts at fortilicatiou Fortified rock of Sigiri Page Forests, their real security . . 466 Thorns planted as defences . . 466 Bridges and ferries .... 466 Method of tying cut stone in forming tanks 467 Tank sluices 407 Defective construction of these reser- voirs 407 The art of engineering lost . . 408 The " Giants' Tank " a failure . . 408 An aqueduct formed, A. d. 66 . . 409 CHAP. VII. THE FINE ARTS. 3Iusic, its early cultivation . . 470 Harsh character of Singhalese music 470 Tom-toms, their variety and anti- quity 471 Singhalese gamut .... 472 Painting. — Imagination discouraged. 472 Similarity of Singhalese toEgyptian art 472 Rigid rules for religious design . 473 Similar trammels on art in Modern Greece . . . (jiote) 473 And in Italy in the loth century (jt.) 474 Celebrated Singhalese painters . 475 Sculpture. — Statues of Buddha . . 475 Built statues 477 Painted statues .... 477 Statues formed of gems . . . 477 Ivory and sandal-wood carved . 477 Architecture, its ruins exclusively re- ligious 478 Domestic architecture mean at all times 478 Stone quarried by wedges . . 478 Immense slabs thus prepared . 479 Columns at Anarajapoora . . 479 Materials for building . . , 479 Mode of constructing a dagoba . 480 Enonnous dimensions of these structures 480 Jlonastcries and wiharas . . 481 Palaces 482 Carvings in stone .... 483 Ubiquity of the honours shown to goose ...... 484 Delicate outline of Singhalese carv- ings 488 Temples and their decorations . 488 Cave temples of Ceylon . . . 489 The Alu-wihara . . . .489 IMoukling in plaster . . . 489 Claim of the Singhalese to the in- vention of oil painting . . 490 Lacquer ware of the present day . 400 Honey-suckle ornament . . . 491 CHAP. VIII. SOCIAL LIFE. Ancient cities and their organisation 493 Public buildings, hospitals, shops . 493 Anarajapoora, as it appeared in 7th century 493 THE FIRST VOLUME. XUl The description of it by Fa Ilian . 495 Carriages and Horses . . . 495 Horses imported from Persia . . 495 Furniture of the houses . . . 49G Form of Government. — Revenue . 497 The Army and Navy . . . 498 Mode of recruiting .... 499 Arms. — Bows 499 Singular mode of drawing the bow with the foot . . . {note) 499 Civil Justice 500 CHAP. IX. SCIENCES. Education and schools . . . 501 Logic 502 Astronomy and astrology . . . 503 Medicine and surgery . . 504 King Buddha-dasa a physician . . 504 Botany 505 Geometry 505 Lightning conductors . . . 50G Kotice of a remarkable passage in the Mahawanso 507 CHAP. X. SINGHALESE LITERATUKE. The Pali language .... 512 The temples the depositaries of learning 512 Historiographers emploj-ed by the kings 512 Ola books, how prepared . . 513 A stile, and the mode of writing . 513 Books on plates of metal {note) 513 Differences between Elu and Sing- halese 513 Pali works : Grammar 514 Hardy's list of Singhalese books (note) 515 Pali books all written in vei'se . 515 The PittaJias 515 The Jatakas — resemble the Talmud 516 Pali literature generally . .516 The 3Iilinda-prasna . . . 516 Pali historical books and their cha- racter 517 The 3Iuhatuanso .... 517 Scriptural coincidences in Pali books .... {note) 518 Page Sanskrit works : Principally on science and medi- cine 520 Elu and Singhalese works : Low tone of the popular literature 520 Chiefly ballads and metrical essays 521 Exempt from licentiousness . . 521 Sacred poems in honour of Hindu gods 521 General literature of the people • 522 CHAP. XL BUDDHISM AND DEMON-WOKSHIP. Buddhisin as it exists in Ceylon . 523 Which was the more ancient, Brah- manism or Buddhism . . . 523 Various authorities . . {note) 523 Buddhism, its extreme antiquitj' , 524 Its prodigious influence . . . 524 Sought to be identified with the Druids .... {note) 524 Buddhism an agent of civilisation . 525 Its features in Ceylon . . . 526 The various forms elsewhere . . 527 Points that distinguish it from Brah- manism 528 Buddhist theory of human perfection 528 Its treatment of caste . . . 530 Its respect for other religions . . 530 Anecdote, illustrative of . {note) 530 Its cosmogony 531 Its doctrine of " necessity " . . . 532 Transmigration 533 Illustration from Lucan . {note) 533 The priesthood and its attributes . 534 Buddhist morals .... 534 Prohibition to take life . . . 534 Form of worship .... 635 Brahmanical corruptions . . . 686 Failure of Buddhism as a sustaining faith 537 Its moral influence over the people . 538 Demon-worship ..... 539 Trees dedicated to demons {note) 540 Devil priests and their orgies . . 541 Ascendency of these superstitions . 542 Buddhism as an obstacle to Chris- tianity 543 Difiiculties presented by the morals of Buddhism 544 Prohibition against taking away life {note) 544 PART V. MEDIEVAL HISTOEY. CHAPTER I. CETLON AS KNOWN TO THE GREEKS AND ROMANS. First heard of by the companions of Alexander the Great , . . 549 Various ancient names of Ceylon {note) 549 Early doubts whether it was an island or a continent .... 550 Mentioned by Aristotle . .550 XIV CONTENTS OF Page Alleged mention of Ceylon in the Sa- maritan Pentateuch . (wofe) 551 Onesicritus's account . . . 552 Megasthenes' description . . . 552 ^Elian's account borrowed from Me- gasthenes . . . («o, 1. viii. c. vii. sec. 2. a 3 NOTICE THE SECOND EDITION. The rapidity with which the first impression has been absorbed by the public, has so shortened the interval between its appear- ance and that of the present edition, that no sufficient time has been allowed for the discovery of errors or defects ; and the work is re-issued almost as a corrected reprint. In the interim, however, I have ascertained, that Eibeyro's "Historical Account of Ceylon," which it was heretofore supposed had never appeared in any other than the French version of the Abbe Le Grrand, and in the English translation of the latter by Mr. Lee^ was some years since printed for the first time in the original Portuguese, from the identical MS. presented by the author to Pedro II. in 1685. It was published in 1836 by the Academia Eeal das Sciencias of Lisbon, under the title of " Fatalidade Historica da Ilha de Ceilao ; " and forms the Vth volume of the " Collegdo de Noticias -para a Historia e Geografia das Nagoes Ultramarinas.^'' A fac-simile from a curious map of the island as it was then known to the Portu- guese, has been included in the present edition.^ Some difficulty having been expressed to me, in identifying the ancient names of places in India adverted to in the following pages ; and mediaeval charts of that country being rare, a map has been inserted in the present edition^, to supply the want complained of. The only other important change has been a considerable ad- dition to the Index, which was felt to be essential for facilitating reference. J. E. T. 1 See Vol. II. Tart vi. ch. i. p. 6, note. » Ibid. p. G. ^ See Vol. I. p. 330. London: November l^t, 1859. INTRODUCTION. There is no island in the world, Great Britain itself not excepted, that has attracted the attention of authors in so many distant ages and so many different countries as Ceylon. There is no nation in ancient or modern times possessed of a language and a literature, the writers of which have not at some time made it their theme. Its aspect, its religion, its antiquities, and productions, have been described as well by the classic Greeks, as by those of the Lower Empire ; by the Romans ; by the writers of China, Burmah, India, and Kashmir ; by the geographers of Arabia and Persia ; by the mediaeval voyagers of Italy and France ; by the annalists of Portugal and Spain ; by the merchant adventurers of Holland, and by the travellers and topographers of Great Britain. But amidst this wealth of materials as to the island, and its vicissitudes in early times, there is an absolute dearth of information regarding its state and progress during more recent periods, and its actual condition at the present day. T Avas made sensible of this want, on the occa- sion of my nomination, in 1845, to an office in con- a 4 XXIV INTRODUCTION. nection with the government o£ Ceylon. I found abundant details as to the capture of the maritime provinces from the Dutch in 1795, in the narrative of Captain Percival ^, an officer who had served in the expedition ; and the efforts to organise the first system of administration are amply described by Cordiner^, Chaplain to the Forces ; by Lord Yalentia ^, who was then travelling in the East ; and by Ai^thony Berto- LACCi'^, who acted as auditor-general to the first governor, Mr. North, afterwards Earl of Guilford. The story of the capture of Kandy in 1815 has been related by an anonymous eye-witness under the pseudonyme of Phi- lalethes ^, and by Marshall in his Historical Sketch of the conquest.*^ An admirable description of the interior of the island, as it presented itself some forty years ago, Avas furnished by Dr. Davy^, a brother of the eminent philosopher, who was employed on the medical staff in Ceylon, from 1816 till 1820. Here the long series of writers is broken, just at the commencement of a period the most important and interesting in the history of the island. The mountain zone, which for centuries had been mysteriously hidden from the Portuguese and Dutch '\ was suddenly opened ^ An Account of the Island of Ceylon, c^c, by Capt. R. Pekcival. 4to. London, 1805. ^ A Description of Ceijlon, Sfc, by the Rev. James Cordinee, A.M. 2 vols. 4to. London, 1807. ^ Voyages and Travels to India, CeyluJi, and the lied Sea, by Lord Viscount Valentia. 3 vols. 4to. London, 1809. ^ A Vieic of the Agrictdhiral, Com- mercial, and Financial Interests of Ceylon, Sfc, by A. Bertolacci, Es(]. London, 1817. ^ A History of Ceylon from the earliest Period to the Year mdcccxv, by Philalethes, A.M. 4to. Lond. 1817. The author is believed to have been the Rev. G. Bisset- ^ Henry Marshall, F.R.S.E., &c. went to Ceylon as assistant sur- geon of the 89th regiment, in 180G, and from 1816 till 1821 was the senior medical ofScer of the Kan- dyan provinces. ''An Account of the Interior of Ceylon, &fc., by John Davy, M.D. 4to. London, 1821. ^ Valentyn, in his great work on the Dutch possessions in India, Oud * INTRODUCTION. XXV to British enterprise in 1815. The lofty region, from be],^ind whose barrier of hills the kings of Kandy had looked down and defied the arms of three suc- cessive European nations, was at last rendered ac- cessible by the grandest mountain road in India ; and in the north of the island, the ruins of ancient cities, and the stupendous monuments of an early civi- lisation, were discovered in the solitudes of the great central forests. English merchants embarked in the re- nowned trade in cinnamon, which we had wrested from the Dutch ; and British capitalists introduced the cultiva- tion of coffee into the previously inaccessible highlands. Changes of equal magnitude contributed to alter the social position of the natives; domestic slavery was extinguished; compulsory labour, previously exacted from the free races, was abolished ; and new laws under a charter of justice superseded the arbitrary rule of the native chiefs. In the course of less than half a century, the aspect of the country became changed, the condition of the people was submitted to new influences ; and the time arrived to note the effects of this civil revolution. But on searching for books such as I expected to find, recording the phenomena consequent on these do- mestic and political events, I was disappointed to discover that they were few in number and generally meagre in information. Major Forbes, who in 1826 and for some years afterwards held a civil appointment in the Kandyan country, published an interesting account of his observations ^ ; and his work derives value from the atten- en Nieuiv Oost-Indien, alludes more ; lives and spies. (Vol. v. cli. ii. p. 35; than once with regret to the igno- | ch. xv. [>. 205.) jance in which his countrymen were | ^ Eleven Years in Cei/lon, ^t., by kept as to the interior of Ceylon, concerning which their only infor- mation was obtained through i'ugi- IMajor Forces. 2 vols. 8vo. London, 1840. XXVI INTRODUCTION. tioii wliicli the author had paid to the aneient records of the island, whose contents were then undergoing in^^es- tigation by the erudite and indefatigable Tuenour.^ In 1843 Mr. Bennett, a retired civil servant of the colony, who had studied some branches of its natural history, and especially its ichthyology, embodied his experiences in a volume entitled " Ceylon and its Capabilities ^^^ containing a mass of information, somewhat defective in arrangement. These and a number of minor publications, chiefly descriptive of sporting tours in search of elephants and deer, with incidental notices of the sublime scenery and majestic ruins of the island, were the only modern works that treated of Ceylon ; but no one of them sufficed to furnish a connected view of the colony at the present day, contrasting its former state with the condition to which it has attained under the government of Great Britain. On arriving in Ceylon and entering on my official functions, this absence of local knowledge entailed frequent inconvenience. In my tours throughout the interior, I found ancient monuments, apparently defying decay, of which no one could tell the date or the founder ; and temples and cities in ruins, whose destroyers were equally unknown. There were vast structures of public utility, on which the prosperity of the country had at one time been dependent ; artificial lakes, with their con- duits and canals for irrigation ; the condition of which rendered it interesting to ascertain the period of their formation, and the causes of their abandonment; but to every inquiry of this nature, there was the same unvarying rej^ly : that information regarding them might possibly be found in the Mahawaiiso^ or in some ^ See Vol. I. Part iii. cli. iii. p. 312. INTRODUCTION. xxvii other of the native chronicles ; but that few had ever read them, and none had succeeded in reproducing them for popular instruction. A still more serious embarrassment arose from the want of authorities to throw light on questions that were some- times the subject of administrative deliberation : there were native customs which no available materials sufficed to illustrate ; and native claims, often serious in their im- portance, the consideration of which was obstructed by a similar dearth of authentic data. With a view to executive measures, I was frequently desirous of con- sulting the records of the two European governments, under which the island had been administered for 300 years before the arrival of the British ; their experience might have served as a guide, and even their failures would have pointed out errors to be avoided ; but here, again, I had to encounter disappointment : in answer to my inquiries, I was assured that the records^ both of the Portuguese afid Dutch, had long since disappeared from the archives of the colony. Their loss, whilst in our custody, is the more re- markable, considering the value which was attached to them by our predecessors. The Dutch, on the conquest of Ceylon in the seventeenth century, seized the official accounts and papers of the Portuguese ; and a memoir is preserved by Valentyn, in which the Governor, Van Goens, on handing over the command to his successor in 1663, enjoins on him the study of these important documents, and expresses anxiety for their careful pre- servation.^ The British, on the capture of Colombo in 1796, were equally solicitous to obtain possession of the re- 1 Valentyn, Olid en Nieuw Oost-Indien^ ^c, ch. xiii. p. 174. XXVlii INTRODUCTION. cords of the Dutch Government. By Art. XIV. of the capitulation they were required to l)e " faithfully deli- vered over;" and, by Art. XI., all "surveys of the island and its coasts " were required to be surrendered to the captors.^ But, strange to say, almost the whole of these interesting and important papers appear to have been lost ; not a trace of the Portuguese records, so far as I could discover, remains at Colombo; and if any vestige of those of the Dutch be still extant, they have probably become illegible from decay and the ravages of the white ants.^ But the loss is not utterly irreparable ; duplicates of the Dutch correspondence during their possession of Ceylon are carefully preserved at Amsterdam; and within the last few years the Trustees of the British Museum purchased from the library of the late Lord Stuart de Rothesay the Diplomatic Correspondence and Papers of Sebastiao Joze Carvalho e Mello (Portu- guese Ambassador at London and Vienna, and subse- quently known as the Marquis de Pombal), from 1738 to 1747, including sixty volumes relating to the history of the Portuguese possessions in India and Brazil during the 16th, 17th, and 18th centuries. Amongst the latter are forty volumes of despatches relative to India entitled Collecqam Authentica de todas as Leys^ Begimentos^ Alvards e mats ordens que se expedir^am para a India^ 1 Amongst a valuable collection of documents i)resented to the iloyal Asiatic Society of London, by the late Sir Alexander Johnston, for- merly Chief Justice of Ceylon, there is a voliuue of Dutch surveys of the Island, containing inii)ortant maps of the coast and its harbours, and plans of the great works for irriga- tion in the noi-thern and eastern pro- vinces. ^ Note to the second edition. — Since the first edition was published, I have been told by a late ofiicer of the Ceylon Government, that many years ago, what remained of the Dutch records were removed from the record-room of the Colonial Office to the cutcherry of the government agentof the western province : wiiere some of them may still be found. INTRODUCTION. XXIX desde o estahlecimento destas conquistas ; Ordendda por proviram de 28 de Marco de 1754.^ These contain the despatches to and from the successive Captains- General and Governors of Ceylon, so that, in part at least, the replacement of the records lost in the colony may be effected by transcription. Meanwhile in their absence I had no other resource than the narratives of the Dutch and Portuguese histo- rians, chiefly Valentyn, De Barros, and De Couto, who have preserved in two languages the least familiar in Europe, chronicles of their respective governments, which, so far as I am aware, have never been republished in any translation. The present volumes contain no detailed notice of the Buddhist faith as it exists in Ceylon, of the Brahma- nical rites, or of the other religious superstitions of the island. These I have already described in my history of Christianity in Ceylon} The materials for that work were originally designed to form a portion of the present one ; but having expanded to too great dimensions to be made merely subsidiary, I formed them into a sepa- rate treatise. Along with them I have incorporated facts illustrative of the national character of the Singhalese under the conjoint influences of their ancestral super- stitions and the partial enlightenment of education and gospel truth. Respecting the Physical Geography and Natural His-' tory of the colony, I found an equal want of reliable information ; and every work that even touched on the 1 MSS. Brit. Mus. No. 20,861 to 20,900. ^ Christianity in Ceylon : its In- troduction and Progress under the Portuguese., the Dutch., the British, and American Missions ; with an Historical Sketch of the Brahmanical and Buddhist Superstitions, by Sir James Emerson Tennent. Loudon, Murray, 1850. XXX INTRODUCTION. subject was pervaded by the misapprehension which I have collected evidence to correct ; that Ceylon is but a fragment of the great Indian continent dissevered by some local convulsion ; and that the zoology and botany of the island are identical with those of the mainland.^ Thus for almost every particular and fact, whether physical or historical, I have been to a great extent thrown on my own researches ; and obliged to seek for information in original sources, and in French and Eno;lish versions of Oriental authorities. The results of my investigations are embodied in the following pages ; and it only remains for me to express, in terms however inadequate, my obligations to the literary and scientific friends by whose aid 1 have been enabled to pursue my inquiries. Amongst these my first acknowledgments are due to Dr. Templeton, of the Army Medical StaiF, for his cor- dial assistance in numerous departments ; but above all in relation to the physical geography and natural his- tory of the island. Here his scientific knowledge, suc- cessfully cultivated during a residence of nearly twelve years in Ceylon, and his intimate familiarity with its zoology and productions, rendered his co-operation in- valuable ; — and these sections abound with evidences of the liberal extent to which his stores of information have been generously imparted. To him and to Dr. Cameron, of the Army Medical StaiF, I am indebted for many valuable facts and observations on tropical health and disease, embodied in the chapter on " Climated ^ It may seem presumptuous in me to question the accuracy of Dr. Davy's opinion on this point (see his Account oj" the Interior of Ceylon, SfC, eh. iii. p. 78), but the grounds on which I venture to do so are stated, Vol. I. pp. 7, 27, 160, 178, 208, &c. INTRODUCTION. XXXI Sir Roderick I. Murciiison (without committing himself as to the controversial portions of the chapter on the Geology and Mineralogy oi Ceylon) has done me the favour to offer some valuable suofsrestions, and to express his opinion as to the general accuracy of the whole. Although a feature so characteristic as that of its Vegetation could not possibly be omitted in a work pro- fessing to give an account of Ceylon, I had neither the space nor the qualifications necessary to produce a systematic sketch of the Botany of the island. I could only attempt to describe it as it exhibits itself to an un- scientific spectator ; and the notices that I have given are confined to such of the more remarkable plants as cannot fail to arrest the attention of a stranger. In illustration of these, I have had the advantage of copious communications from William Ferguson, Esq., a gentle- man attached to the Survey Department of the Civil Service in Ceylon, whose opportunities for observation in all parts of the island have enabled him to cultivate with signal success his taste for botanical pursuits. And I have been permitted to submit the portion of my work which refers to this subject to the revision of the highest living authority on Indian botany, Dr. J. D. Hooker, of Kew. Regarding the fauna of Ceylon, little has been pub- lished in any collective form, with the exception of a volume by Dr. Kelaart entitled Prodromus Faunce Zeilanicce ; several valuable papers by Mr. Edgar L. Layard in the A?i7ials and Magazine of Natural His- tory for 1852 and 1853 ; and some very imperfect lists appended to Pridiiam's compiled account of the XXXll INTRODUCTION. island.^ Knox, in the charming narrative of his cap- tivity, published in the reign of Charles 11. , has de- voted a chapter to the animals of Ceylon, and Dr. Davy has described the principal reptiles : but witli these exceptions the subject is almost untouched in works relating to the colony. Yet a more than ordinary interest attaches to the inquiry, since Ceylon, instead of presenting, as is generally assumed, an identity between its fauna and that of Southern India, exhibits a re- markable diversity of type, taken in connection with the limited area over which they are distributed. The island, in fact, may be regarded as the centre of a geographical circle, possessing within itself forms, whose allied species radiate far into the temperate regions of the north, as well as into Africa, Australia, and the isles of the Eastern Archipelago. In the chapters that I have devoted to its elucida- tion, I have endeavoured to interest others in the subject, by describing my own observations and impres- sions, with fidelity, and with as much accuracy as may be expected from a person possessing, as I do, no greater knowledge of zoology and the other physical sciences than is ordinarily possessed by any educated gentleman. It was my good fortune, however, in my journies to have the companionship of friends familiar with many branches of natural science: the late Dr. Gardner, Mr. Edgar L. Layard, an accomplished zoologist. Dr. Templeton, and others ; and I was thus enabled * An Historical, Political, and Sta- tistical Account of Ceylon and its De- pendencies, by C. Pridham, Esq. 2 vols. 8vo. London, 1849. The au- thor was never, I believe, in Ceylon, but his book is a laborious conden- sation of the principal English works relating to it. Its value would have been greatly increased had Mr. Pridham accompanied his excerpts by references to the respective au- thorities. INTRODUCTION. XXXlll to collect on the spot many interesting facts relative to the structure and habits of the numerous tribes of animals. These, chastened by the corrections of my fellow-travellers, and established by the examina- tion of collections made in the colony, and by subse- quent comparison with specimens contained in museums at home, I have ventured to submit as faithful outlines of i\iQ fauna of Ceylon. The sections descriptive of the several classes are accompanied by lists, prepared with the assistance of scientific friends, showing the extent to which each particular branch had been investigated by naturalists, up to the period of my departure from Ceylon at the close of 1849. These, besides their inherent interest, will, I trust, stimulate others to engage in the same pursuits, by exhibiting the chasms, which it still re- mains for future industry and research to fill up ; — and the study of the zoology of Ceylon may thus serve as a preparative for that of Continental India, em- bracing, as the former does, much that is common to both, as well as possessing within itself a fauna peculiar to the island, that will amply repay more extended scrutiny. From these lists have been excluded all species regarding the authenticity of which reasonable doubts could be entertained \ and of some of them, a very few have been printed in italics^ in order to denote the desirability of comparing them more minutely with well determined specimens in the great national depo- ^ An exception occurs in the list of shells, prepared by Mr. Sylvanus IIanley, in which some whose loca- lities are doubtful have been ad- mitted for reasons adduced. (See Vol.1, p. 234.) VOL. I. XXXIV INTRODUCTION. sitories before finally incorjDorating tliem with tlie Singhalese catalogues. In the labour of collecting and verifying the facts embodied in these sections, I cannot too warmly express my thanks for the aid I have received from gentlemen interested in similar pursuits in Ceylon : from Dr. Kelaart and Mr. Edgar L. La yard, as well as from officers of the Ceylon Civil Service; the Hon. Gerald C. Talbot, Mr. C. R. Buller, Mr. Mercer, Mr. Morris, Mr. Whiting, Major Skinner, and Mr. Mitford. Before venturing to commit these chapters of my work to the press, I have had the advantage of having portions of them read by Professor Huxley, Mr. Moore, of the East India House Museum; Mr. R. Patterson, F.R.S., author of the Introduction to Zoology^ and by Mr. Adam White, of the British Museum ; to each of whom I am exceedingly indebted for the care they have bestowed. In an especial degree I have to acknowledge the kind- ness of Dr. J. E. Gray, F. R. S. for valuable additions and corrections in the list of the Ceylon Reptilia ; and to Professor Faraday for some notes on the nature and qualities of the " Serpent Stone," ^ submitted to him. I have recorded in its proper place my obligations to Admiral Fitzroy, for his most ingenious theory in elu- cidation of the phenomena of the Tides around Ceylon.^ The extent to which my observations on the Elephant have been carried, requires some explanation. The existing notices of this noble creature are chiefly de- voted to its habits and capabilities in captivity ; and very few works, with which I am acquainted, contain illustrations of its instincts and functions when wild in 1 Sec Vol. L Tart ii. ch. iii. p. 199. ^ gee Vol.H. Part vii. ch. i. p. IIC. INTRODUCTION. XXXV its native woods. Opportunities for observing the latter, and for collecting facts in connection with them, are abundant in Ceylon, and from the moment of my arrival, I profited by every occasion afforded to me for studying the elephant in a state of nature, and obtaining from hunters and natives correct informa- tion as to its oeconomy and disposition. Anecdotes in connection with this subject, I received from some of the most experienced residents in the island ; amongst others, Major Skinner, Captain Philip Payne Gallwey, Mr. Fairholme, Mr. Cripps, and Mr. Mor- ris. Nor can I omit to express my acknowledgments to Professor Owen, of the British Museum, to whom this portion of my manuscript was submitted previous to its committal to the press. In the historical sections of the work, I have been reluctantly compelled to devote a considerable space to a narrative deduced from the ancient Singhalese chro- nicles ; into which I found it most difficult to infuse any popular interest. But the toil was not undertaken without a motive. The oeconomics and hierarchical institutions of Buddhism as administered through suc- cessive dynasties, exercised so paramount an influ- ence over the habits and occupations of the Singhalese people, that their impress remains indelible to the present day. The temire of temple lands, the compul- sory services of tenants, the extension of agriculture, and the whole system of co-operative cultivation, derived from this source organisation and development ; and the origin and objects of these are only to be rendered intel- ligible by an inquiry into the events and times in which the system took its rise. In connection with this subject, I am indebted to the representatives of the late Mr. b 2 XXXvi INTRODUCTION. TuRNOUR, of the Ceylon Civil Service, for access to his unpublished manuscripts ; and to those portions of his correspondence with Prinsep, which relate to the researches of these two distinguished scholars regarding the Pali annals of Ceylon. I have also to acknowledge my obligations to M. Jules Mohl, the literary executor of M. E. BuRNOUF, for the use of papers left by that eminent orientalist in illustration of the ancient geo- graphy of the island, as exhibited in the works of Pali and Sanskrit writers. I have been signally assisted in my search for materials illustrative of the social and intellectual con- dition of the Singhalese nation, during the early ages of their history, by gentlemen in Ceylon, whose familiarity with the native languages and literature impart authority to their communications ; by Ernest de Saram Wijeye- SEKERE Karoonaratne, the Maha-Moodliar and First Interpreter to the Governor; and to Mr. de Alwis, the erudite translator of the Sidath Sangara. From the Eev. Mr. Gogerly of the Wesleyan Mission, I have received expositions of Buddhist policy; and the Rev. R. Spence Hardy, author of the two most important modern works on the archseology of Buddhism \ has done me the favour to examine the chapter on Sing- halese Literature^ and to enrich it by numerous sug- gestions and additions. In like manner I have had the advantage of com- municating with Mr. Cooley (author of the History of Maritime aiid Inland Discovery) in relation to the Mediaeval History of Ceylon, and the j)eriod embraced ^ Oriental Monachism, 8vo. Loiiflon, 1850; and A Manual of Bndd/iism, 8vo. London, 1853. INTRODUCTIOX. XXXvii by the narrative of the Greek, Arabian, and Italian travellers, between the fifth and fifteenth centuries. I have elsewhere recorded my obligations to Mr. "Wylie, and to his colleague, Mr. Lockhakt of Shanghae, for the materials of one of the most curious chapters of my work, that which treats of the knowledge of Ceylon possessed by the Chinese in the Middle Ages. This is a field which, so far as I know, is untouched by any previous writer on Ceylon. In the course of my in- quiries, finding that Ceylon had been, from the remotest times, the point at which the merchant fleets from the Red Sea and the Persian Gulf met those from China and the Oriental Archipelago ; thus effecting an exchange of merchandise between East and AYest ; and discover- ing that the Arabian and Persian voyagers, on their return, had brought home copious accounts of the island, it occurred to me that the Chinese travellers during the same period had in all probability been equally observant and communicative, and that the results of their experience might be found in Chinese works of the Middle Ages. Acting on this conjecture, I addressed myself to a Chinese gentleman, "Wang Tao Chung, who was then in England ; and he, on his return to Shanghae, made known my wishes to Mr. Wylie. My anticipations were more than realised by Mr. Wylie's researches. I received in due course, extracts from upAvards of twenty works by Chinese writers, between the fifth and fifteenth centuries, and the curious and interesting facts contained in them are embodied in the chapter devoted to that particular subject. In addition to these, the courtesy of M. Stanislas JuLiEN,the eminent French Sinoloo;ue, has laid me under a similar oblio^ation for access to unpublished passages relative to Ceylon, XXXVlll INTRODUCTION. in his tran slation of the great work of Hiouen Thsang; descriptive of the Buddhist country of India in the seventh century.^ It is with pain that I advert to that portion of the section which treats of the British rule in Ceylon ; in the course of which the discovery of the private corre- spondence of the first Governor, Mr. North, depo- sited along with the Wellesley Manuscripts, in the British Museum^, has thrown an unexpected light over the fearful events of 1803, and the massacre of the English troops then in garrison at Kandy. Hitherto the honour of the British Government has been unimpeached in these dark transactions ; and the slaughter of the troops has been uniformly denounced as an evidence of the treacherous and " tiger-like " spirit of the Kandy an people.^ But it is not possible now to read the narrative of these events, as the motives and secret arrangements of the Governor with the treacherous Minister of the king are disclosed in the private letters of ]\Ir. North to the Governor-general of India, without feeling that the sudden destruction of Major Davie's party, however revolting the remorseless butchery by which it w^as achieved, may have been but the consum- mation of a revenge provoked by the discovery of the treason concocted by the Adigar in confederacy with the representative of the British Cro^vn. Nor is this construction weakened by the fact, that no immediate vengeance was exacted by the Governor in expiation of that fearful tragedy ; and that the private letters of Mr. North to the Marquis of Wellesley contain avowals of ^ Memoires siir les Contrccs Occi- dentales, traduites du Sanscrit en Chinois^ en I'an G18; par M. Sta- nislas JULIEN. 2 Additional MSS., Brit. Mus., No. 13864, &c. 2 De Qtjincey^ collected Worhs, vol, xii. p. 14, INTRODUCTION. XXXIX ineiFectual efforts to hush up the affair, and to obtain a clumsy compromise by inducing the Kandyan king to make an admission of regret. I am aware that there are passages in the following pages containing statements that occur more than once in the course of the work. But I found that in dealing with so many distinct subjects the same fact became sometimes an indispensable illustration of more than one topic ; and hence repetition was unavoidable even at the risk of tautology. I have also to apologise for variances in the spelling of proper names, both of places and individuals, occurring in different passages. In extenuation of this, I can only plead the difficulty of preserving uniformity in matters dependent upon mere sound, and unsettled by any recognised standard of orthography. I have endeavoured in every instance to append re- ferences to other authors, in support of statements which I have drawTi from previous writers ; an arrange- ment rendered essential by the numerous instances in which errors, that nothing short of the original autho- rities can suffice to expose, have been reproduced and repeated by successive writers on Ceylon. To whatever extent the preparation of this work may have fallen short of its conception, and whatever its de- merits in execution and style, I am not without hope that it Avill still exhibit evidence that by perseverance and research I have laboured to render it worthy of the subject. JAMES ElMERSGN TENNENT. London : Julij \3ih, 1859, PART I. PHYSICAL GEOGRAPHY. VOL. I. CHAPTER I. niYSICAL GEOGRAPHY.— GEOLOGY. ^JIINERALOGY, CLIMATE, ETC, -GEMS, General Aspect.— Ceylon, from whatever direction it is approached, unfolds a scene of lovehness and gran- deur unsm-passed, if it be rivalled, by any land in the universe. The traveller from Bengal, leaving behind the melancholy delta of the Ganges and the torrid coast of Coromandel ; or the adventm^er fi^om Europe, recently inm^ed to the sands of Egypt and the scorched headlands of Arabia, is ahke entranced by the vision of beauty which expands before him as the island rises from the sea, its lofty mountains covered by luxuriant forests, and its shores, till they meet the ripple of the waves, bright mtli the fohage of perpetual spring. The Brahmans designated it by the epithet of " the resplendent," and in their dreamy rhapsodies ex- tolled it as the region of mystery and subhmity ^ ; the Buddhist poets gracefully apostrophised it as " a ^ " lis en out fait ime espece de paradis, et se soiit imagine que des etres d'une nature angelique les lia- bitaient." — Albyrouni, Traite des Eves, Sf-c. ; Reinatjd, Gcot/rapMe d Ahoulf6da, tntrod. sec. iii. p. ccxxiv. The renown of Ceylon as it reached EuTOpe in tlie seventeenth century is thus summed up by PtJKCHAS in His IHh/nma(/e, b. v. c. 18, p. 550 : — " The heauens vdih. their dewes, the ap'e with a pleasant holesomenesse and fragrant freshnesse, the Waters in their many riuers and fountaines, the earth diuersified in aspiring hills, lowly vales, equall and indifferent plaines, filled in her inward chambers ^vith mettalls and Jewells, in her outward court and \i5per face stored with whole woods of the best cin- namon that the suune seeth ; besides fruits, oranges, lemons, &e. Siirmoimt- ing those of Spaine ; fowles and beasts, both tame and wilde (among B 2 PHYSICAL GEOGRAPHY. [Part I. pearl upon the brow of India ; " the Chinese knew it as the "island of jewels ; " the Greeks as the "land of the hyacinth and the ruby ; " the Mahometans, in the intensity of their delight, assigned it to the exiled parents of mankind as a new elysium to console them for the loss of Paradise ; and the early navigators of Europe, as they returned dazzled with its gems, and laden with its costly spices, propagated the fable that far to seaward the very breeze that blew from it was redolent of perfume.^ In later and less imaginative times, Ceylon has still maintained the renown of its attractions, and exhibits in all its varied charms " the highest conceivable development of Indian nature." ^ Picturesque Outline. — The nucleus of its mountain masses consists of gneissic, granitic, and other crystaUine wliicli is their elephant honoured hy a naturall acknowledgement of ex- cellence of all other elephants in the world). These all have conspired and joined in common league to pre- sent vnto Zeilan the chiefe of worldly treasures and pleasures, "wdth a long and healthfull life in the inhabitants to enjoye them. No marvell, then, if sense and sensualitie haue heere stumbled on a paradise." ' The fable of the " spicy breezes " said to blow fi-om Arabia and India, is as old as Ctesias ; and is eagerly repeated by Pliny, lib. xii. c. 42. The Greeks borrowed the tale from the Hindus, who believe tJiat the Chandana or sandal-wood imparts its odours to the winds ; and their poets speak of the INIalayan as the westerns did of the Sabfean breezes. But the allusion to such perfumed winds was a trope common to all the discoverers of iniknown lands : the companions of Columbus ascribed them to the region of the Antilles; and VeiTazani and Sir Walter Ra- leigh scented tliein oft" the coast of Carolina. Milton borrowed from Diodorus Siculus, lib. iii. c. 46, the statement that " Far off at sea north-east winds blow .Sabaean odours from the spicy shore Of Araby the Blest." (P. Z,. iv. 163.) Ariosto employs the same imagina- tive embellishment to describe the charms of Cj'prus : " Serpillo e persa e rose e gipli e croco Spargon dall' odnrifero terreno Tanta suavita, ch' in mar sentire La fa ogni vento che : amon£>' the waves o o o upon the distant shore. B 3 PHYSICAL GEOGRAPHY. [Part I. From age to age a scene so lovely has imparted a colouring of romance to the adventures of the seamen who, in the eagerness of commerce, swept round the shores of India, to bring back the pearls and precious stones, the cinnamon and odours, of Ceylon. The tales of the Arabians are fraught with the wonders of " Serendib ; " and the mariners of the Persian Gulf have left a record of their dehght in reaching the calm havens of the island, and reposing for months together in valleys where the waters of the sea were overshadowed by woods, and the gardens were blooming m perennial summer.^ Geographical Position. — Notwithstanding the fact that tiie Hindus, in their system of the universe, had given prominent importance to Ceylon, their first meridian, " the merichan of Lanka," being supposed to pass over the island, they propounded the most extra- vagant ideas, both as to its position and extent ; expand- ing it to the proportions of a continent, and at the same time placing it a considerable distance south-east of India.2 The native Buddhist historians, unable to confirm the exaggerations of the Brahmans, and yet reluctant to detract from the epic renown of their country by dis- claiming its stupendous dimensions, attempted to re- concile its actual extent with the fables of the eastern astronomers by imputing to the agency of earthquakes the submersion of vast regions by the sea.^ But evidence is wantinsj to corroborate the asser- ^ Eeinaud, Rclatimi des Voyages Arahes, &c., dims le nermeme siecle. Paris, 1845, torn. ii. p. 129. - For a condensed accoimt of tlie dimensions and position attributed to Lanka, in tlie ]\rytliic Astronomy of the Hindus, see IIeinaud's Introduc- tion to AhouJfeda, sec. iii. p. ccxvii., and his Ilemoire sitr VInde, p. 342 ; AVilford's Essay on the Sacred Isles of the West, Asiat. Researclies, vol. x. p. 140. ^ Sir Willtam Joxes adopted tlie legendary opinion that Ceylon "for- merly, perhaps, extended much far- ther to the west and south, so as to include Lanka or the equinoctial point of the Indian astronomers." — Discourse on the Institution of a Society for inqiiiriny into the History, CiiAr. I.] GEOGRAPHICAL POSITION. tion of such an occurrence, at least A\ithin the historic period ; no record of it exists in the earhest writings of the Hindus, the Arabians, or Persians ; wlio, had the tradition survived, would eagerly have chronicled a catastrophe so appalhng.^ Geologic analogy, so far as an inference is derivable from the formation of the adjoining coasts, both of India and Ceylon, is opposed to its probabihty ; and not only plants, but animals, mammaha, birds, reptiles, and insects, exist in Ceylon, which are not to be foimd in the flora or fauna of the Indian continent.^ kSJ-c, of the Borderers, 3Ioi(Htaineers, and Islanders of Asia. — AVorks, vol. i. p. 120. The Portuguese, on their arrival in Ceylon in the sixteenth ceutiuy, found the natives fully inipressetl hy the traditions of its former extent and partial suhniersion ; and their belief in connection with it, will be found in the narratives and histories of De Barros and Diogo de Couto, from which they have been transferred, almost without abridgment, to the pages of ValentjTi. The substance of the native legends will be found in tlie Mahawanso,'^.c. xxii. p. 131 ; and Rajavali, p. 180, 190. ^ The first disturbance of the coast by wliich Ceylon is alleged to have been severed from the main land is said by the Buddhists to have taken place B.C. 23875 ^ second commotion is ascribed to the age of Panduwaasa, li.c. 504 ; and the subsidence of the shore adjacent to Colombo is said to have taken place 200 years later, in the reign of Devenipiatissa, B.C. 306. Tlie event is thus recorded in the liaJavaU, one of the sacred books of Ceylon : — " In these days the sea was seven leagues from Kalany ; but on accoimt of what had been done to the teeroonansee (a priest who had been tortured by the king of Kalany), the gods who were charged with the conservation of Ceylon, became en- raged and caused the sea to deluge the land ; and as diuing the epoch called duwapawrayaga on account of the wickedness of Eawana, 25 palaces and 400,000 streets were all o^er-run by the sea, so now in this time of Tissa Raja, 100,000 large towns, 910 fishers' villages, and 400 villages in- habited by pearl fishers, making to- gether eleven-twelfths of the terri- tory of Kalany, were sAvallowed up bvthe sea." — Rajavali, vol. ii. p. 180, 190. Forbes observes the coincidence that the legend of the rising of the sea in the age of Panduwaasa, 2378 B.C., very nearly coucm's witli the date assigned to the Deluge of Noah, 2348. — Eleven Years in Ceylon, vol. ii. p. 258. A tradition is also extant, that a submersion took place .at a remote period on the east coast of Ceylon, whereby the island of Giri- dipo, which is mentioned in the first chapter of the llahawanso, was en- gulfed, and the dangerous rocks called the Great and Little Basses are believed to be renmauts of it. — 3Iahcnuanso, c. i. A resume of the disquisitions which have appeared at various times as to the submersion of a part of Ceylon, T\-ill be found in a Memoir siir la Geof/rajiliie ancienne de Ccylan, in the Journal Asiatique for January, 1857, 5th ser., a-o1. ix. p. 12 ; sec also Tukkoitr's Introd. to the 3I(diaicanso, p. xxxiv. ^ Some of the mammalia peculiar to the island are enmnerated at p. B 4 PHYSICAL GEOGEAPHY. [Part I. Still in tlie infancy of geographical knowledge, and before Ceylon had been cu'cumnavigated by Europeans, the mythical delusions of the Hindus were transmitted to the West, and the dimensions of the island were expanded till its southern extremity fell below the equator, and its breadth was prolonged till it touched ahke on Afiica and China.* The Greeks who, after the Indian conquests of Alex- ander, brought back tlie earhest accounts of the East, repeated them without material correction, and re- ported the island to be nearly twenty times its actual extent. Onesicritus, a pilot of the expedition, assigned to it a magnitude of 5000 stadia, equal to 500 geogra- phical miles.^ Eratosthenes attempted to fix its posi- tion, but went so widely astray that his first (that is his most southern) parallel passed through it and the " Cinnamon Land," the Regio Cinnamomifera, on the east coast of Africa.^ He placed Ceylon at the distance of seven days' sail from the south of India, and he too assigned to its western coast an extent of 5000 stadia.^ Both those authorities are quoted by Strabo, who says that the size of Taprobane was not less than that of Britain.^ 160 ; birds found in Ceylon but not existing in India are alluded to at p. 178, and Dr. A. GiJNTHER, in a paper on the Geographical Distrihutmi of Reptiles, in the Mag. of Nat. Hist. for March, 1859, says, " amongst these larger islands which are connected with the middle palteotropical region, none offers forms so diiferent from the continent and other islands as Ceylon. It might be considered the Mada- gascar of the Indian region. We not only iind there peculiar genera and species, not again to be recognised in other parts ; but even many of the common species exhibit such remark- able varieties, as to aflbrd ample means for creating new nominal species," p. 280. The difference ex- hibited between the insects of Cey- lon and those of Hindustan and the Dekkan are noticed by Mr. Walker in the pi'eseut work, p. ii. ch. vii. vol. i. p. 270. See on this subject Rix- tek's Erdkunde, vol. iv. p. 17. ^ Gibbon, ch. xxiv. ^ Strabo, lib. v. Artemidorus (100 B.C.), quoted by Stephanus of Byzantium, gives to Cejdon a length of 7000 stadia and a breadth of 500. 3 Steabo, lib. ii. c. i. s. 14. * The text of Strabo showing this measui'e makes it in some places 8000 (Strabo, lib. v.); and Pliny, quoting Eratosthenes, makes it 7000. ^ Strabo, lib. ii. c. v. s. 32. Aiis- totle appears to have had more cor- rect information, and says Ceylon was not so large as Britain. — De Mtmdo, ch. iii. Chap. T.] GEOGRAPHICAL POSITION. 9 The round numbers employed by those autliors, and by the Greek geographers generally, who borrow from them, serve to show that their knowledge was merely collected from rumours ; and that in all probabihty they were indebted for their information to the stories of Arabian or Hindu sailors returning from the Eastern seas. PHny learned from the Singhalese Ambassador who visited Eome in the reign of Claudius, that the breadth of Ceylon was 10,000 stadia from west to east ; and Ptolemy fully developed the idea of his predecessors, that it lay opposite to the " Cinnamon Land," and assigned to it a length from north to south of neavlj Jifteen degrees, with a breadth of eleven, an exaggeration of the trutli nearly twenty-fold.^ Agathemerus copies Ptolemy ; and the plain and sensible author of the " Periplus " (attributed to Arrian), still labouring with the delusion of the magnitude of Cejdon, makes it stretch almost to the opposite coast of Africa.^ These extravagant ideas of the magnitude of Ceylon were not entirely removed till many centuries later.' The Arabian geographers, Massoudi, Edrisi, and Aboul- feda, had no accurate data by which to correct the errors of their Greek predecessors. The maps of the fourteenth and fifteenth centuries repeated their distor- tions ^ ; and Marco Polo, in the fourteenth century, who gives the island the usual exaggerated dimensions, yet in- forms us that it is now but one half the size it had been at a former period, the rest having been engulfed by the sea.^ 1 Ptolemy, lib. vii. c. 4. , is fig-ured in the Majjpe-niondes of tlie Abkian, Periplus, p. 35. Mar cianiis Heracleota (whose Periplus has been reprinted by Hudson, in the same collection from which I have I 335, &c Middle Ages, see the Essai of the VicoMTE DE Santarem, Siir la Cos- rnotjruphie et Cartographie, torn. iii. p. made the reference to that of Arrian) gives to Ceylon a length of 9500 stadia with a breadth of 7500. — Mar. Her. p. 2(3. ^ For an account of Ceylou as it 4 Marco Polo, p. 2, c. 148. A later authority than Marco Polo, Por- CACCHt, in his Isolario, or " Description of the most celebrated Islands in the World," which was published at 10 PHYSICAL GEOGEAPHY. [Part I. Such was the uncertainty thrown over tlie geography of the island by erroneous and conflicting accounts, that grave doubts came to be entertained of its identity, and from the fourteenth century, when the attention of Europe was re-directed to the nascent science of geo- grapjiy, down to the close of the seventeenth, it remained a question whether Ceylon or Sumatra was the Taprobane of the Greeks.^ Venice in a.d. 1576, laments liis inability even at that time to ob- tain any authentic information as to the "bomidaries and dimensions of Ceylon ; and, relying on the representations of the Moors, who then carried on an active trade around its coasts, he describes it as lying vmder the equinoctial line, and possessing a circuit of 2100 miles. " Ella gira di circuito, secoudo il calcole fatto da Mori, che moderna- mente I'hanno nauigato d'ogn' intomo due mila et cento miglia et corre maestro e sirocco ; et per il mezo d'essa passa la linea equinottiale et e el principio del primo clima al terzo paralello." — X' Isole piu Famose del 3Iomle, dcscritte da Thomaso Pok- CACCHi, lib. iii. p. 30. ' Gibbon states, that " Salmasius and most of the ancients confound the islands of Ceylon and Sumatra." — Dccl. and Fall, ch. xl. This is a mistake. Saumaise was one of those who maintained a correct opinion ; and, as regards the " ancients," they had veiy little knowledge of Further India, to which Sumatra belongs ; but so long as Greek and Roman literature maintained their influence, no question was raised as to the iden- tity of Ceylon and Taprobane. Even in the sixth centmy Cosmas Indico- pleustes declares imhesitatingly that the Sielediva of the Indians was the Taprobane of the Greeks. It was only on emerging from the general ignorance of the Middle Ages that the doubt was first promulgated. In the Catalan Map of a.d. 1375, en- titled Image du 3Iande, Ceylon is omitted, and Taprobane is represented : by Sumatra (Malte Brtix, Hist, de Geocjr., vol. i. p. 318) ; in that of Fra 3Iauro, the Venetian monk, a.d. 1458, Seylan is given, but Taprobane is added over Sumatra. A similar en-or appears in the 3Iappe-7nonde, by liuYcn, in the Ptolemy of a.d. 1508, and in the wi'itings of the geogra- phers of the sixteenth century. Gem- ma Frisius, Sebastian Munster, Eamusio, Jul. Scaliger, Orteliits, and Mercator. The same view was adopted by tlie Venetian Nicola di CoxTi, in the first half of the fifteenth centmy, by the Florentine Andrea CoRSALi, Maximilianus Transyl- vantjs, Varthema, and Pigafetta. The chief cause of this pei-plexity was, no doubt, the difficulty of recon- ciling the actual position and size of Ceylon with the dimensions and posi- tion assigned to it by Strabo and Ptolemy, the latter of Avliom, by an error wliich is elsewhere explained, extended the boundary of the island far to the east of its actual site. But there was a large body of men who rejected the claim of Sumatra, and De Barros, Salmasius, Bo- cnART Cluverius, Cellaritjs, Isaac Vossius and others, maintained the title of Ceylon. A 3Iaj)pe-vi(mde of A.D. 1417, preserved in the Pitti Palace at Florence compromises the dispute by designating Sumatra Ta- probane 3Iajor. The controversy came to an end at the beginning of the eighteenth century, when the over- powering authority of Delisle re- solved the doubt, and confirmed the modern Ceylon as the Taprobane of antiquity. Wilford, in the Asiatic Researches (vol. x. p. 140), still clung CiiAr. I.] LATITUDE AND LONGITUDE. II Latitude and Longitude. — There has hitherto been considerable uncertainty as to the position assigned to Ceylon in the various maps and geographical notices of the island : these have been corrected by more recent observations, and its true place has been ascertained to be between 5° 55' and 9'' hV north latitude, and 79° 41' 40" and 81° 54' 50" east longitude. Its ex- treme length from north to south, from Point Pal- mjTa to Dondera Head, is 271 J miles ; it greatest width 137^ miles, from Colombo on the west coast to Sange- mankande on the east ; and its area, including its de- pendent islands, 25,742 miles, or about one-sixth smaller than Ireland.^ to tlie opposite opinion, and Kant undertook to prove tliat Taprobane was Madagascar. ' Down to a A'ery recent period no British colony was more imperfectly sm-veved and mapped than Ceylon ; but since the recent publication by AiTOwsmith of the great map by General Fraser, the reproach has been withdrawn, and no dependency of the Crown is more richly provided in this particular. In the map of Schneider, the Government engineer in 1813, two-thirds of the Kandyan Kingdom are a blank ; and in that of the Society for the Diffusion of Knowledge, re-published so late as 1852, the rich districts of Neuera-kala- wa and the Wanny, in which there are innumerable villages (and scarcely a hill), are marked as " ituknoicn moun- tainous reyion.'''' General Fraser, after the devotion of a lifetime to the labom", has produced a sui-vey which, in extent and minuteness of detail, stands unrivalled. In this gi'eat work he had the co-operation of Major Skinuer and of Captain Gall- Avey, and to these two gentlemen the public are indebted for the greater portion of the field-work and the tri- gonometrical operations. To judge of the difficulties which beset such an midertaking, it must be borne in mind that till very recently travelling in the interior of Ceylon was all but impracticable, in a country unopened even by bridle roads, across un- bridged rivers, over moimtains ne^er ta-od by the foot of a European, and amidst precipices inaccessible to all but the most courageous and pru- dent. Add to this that the comitry is densely covered with forest and jungle, "w-itli trees a hundred feet high, from which here and there the branches had to be cleared to ob- tain a sight of the signal stations. The triangidation was carried on amidst privations, discomfort, and pestilence, which frequently prostrat- ed the whole partj', and forced tlieir attendants to desert them rather than encounter such hardships and peril. The materials collected by the col- leagues of General Fraser under these discom-agements have been worked up by him with consummate skill and perseverance. The base line, five and a quarter miles in length, was measured in 1845 in the cinnamon plantation at Kaderani, to the north of Colombo, and its exti-emities are still marked by two towers, which it was necessary to raise to the height of one himdred feet, to enable them to be discerned above the surround- ing forests. These it is to be hoped will be carefully kept from decay, as they may again be called into requi- sition. As regards the sea line of Ceylon, 12 PHYSICAL GEOGRAPHY. [Part I. General Form. — In its general outline the island resembles a pear— and suggests to its admiring in- habitants the figure of those pearls which from their elongated form are suspended from the tapering end. When originally upheaved above the ocean its shape was in all pro- bability nearly circular, with a prolongation in the direction of north-east. The mountain zone in the south, covering an area of about 4212 miles \ may then have formed the largest propor- tion of its entke area — and the belt of low lands, known as the Maritime Provinces, consists to a great extent of soil from the disintegration of the gneiss, detritus from the hiUs, alluvium carried down the rivers, and marine de- posits gradually collected on the shore. But in addi- tion to these, the land has for ages been slowly rising from the sea, and terraces abounding in marine shells imbedded in agglutinated sand occur in situations far above high-water mark. Immediately inland from Point de Galle, the surface soil rests on a stratum of decom- posing coral ; and sea sheUs are found at a considerable distance from the shore. Further north at Madampe, between Chilaw and Negombo, the shells of pearl oysters and other bivalves are turned up by the plough more than ten miles from the sea. These recent formations present themselves in a still more striking form in the north of the island, the greater portion of wliich may be regarded as the conjoint pro- an admirable chart of the West coast, from Adam's Bridge to Dondera Head, has been published by the East India Company from a survey in 1845. But information is sadly wanted as to the East and North, of which no accurate charts exist, except of a few unconnected points, such as the har- bour of Trincomalie. I This includes not only the lofty mountains suitable for the cultivation of cofl'ee, but the lower ranges and spurs which connect them with the maritime plains. CiiAP. I.] GEOLOGY. 13 duction of the coral polj^oi, and the ciirrents, which for the greater portion of the year set impetuously towards the soiitli. Coming laden witli alhivial matter collected along the coast of Coromandel, and meeting with obstacles south of Point Cahmere, they have de- posited their burthens on the coral reefs round Point Pedro ; and these gradually raised above the sea-level, and covered deeply by sand drifts, have formed the peninsula of Jaffna and the plains that trend westward till the}^ unite with the narrow causeway of Adam's Bridge — itself raised by the same agencies, and an- nually added to by the influences of the tides and monsoons.' On the north-west side of the island, where the cur- rents are checked by the obstruction of Adam's Bridge, and still water prevails in the Gulf of Manaar, these de- posits have been profusely heaped, and the low sandy plains have been proportionally extended ; whilst on the south and east, where the current sweeps unimpeded along the coast, the line of the shore is bold and occa- sionally rocky. This explanation of the accretion and rising of the land is somewhat opposed to the popular belief that Ceylon was torn from the main land of India ^ by a convulsion, during wdiich the Gulf of Manaar and the narrow channel at Paumbam were formed by the sub- mersion of the adjacent land. The two theories might be reconciled by supposing the sinking to have oc- curred at an early period, and to have been followed by the uprising still in progress. But on a closer exami- nation of the structure and chrection of the mountain ^ The barrier known as Adam's Bridge, which obstructs the navifja- tion of the channel between Ceylon and Ramnad, consists of several parallel ledges of conglomerate and rently accumulated by the influence of the currents at the change of the monsoons. See an Essay by Captain Stewart on the Paumhem Passage. Colombo, 1837. See Vol. II. p. 554. sandstone, hard at the surface, and ] ^ Lassen, IndMie Alterthums growing coarse and soft as it descends ^ himde, vol. i. p. 193. till it i-ests on a bank of sand, appa- ' 14 PHYSICAL GEOGKAPHY, [Part I. system of Ceylon, it exhibits no traces of submersion. It seems erroneous to regard it as a prolongation of the Indian chains ; it lies far to the east of the hne formed by the Ghauts on either side of the peninsula, and any affinity Avhich it exhibits is rather with the equatorial direction of the intersecting ranges of the Nilgherries and the Vindhya. In their geological elements there is, doubtless, a similarity between the southern ex- tremity of India and the elevated portions of Ceylon ; but there are also many important particulars in which their specific differences are irreconcilable with the con- jecture of previous continuity. In the north of Ceylon there is a marked preponderance of aqueous strata, which are comparatively rare in the vicinity of Cape Comorin ; and whilst the rocks of the former are entkely destitute of organic remains ^ ; fossils, both terrestrial and pelagic, have been found in the Eastern Ghauts, and sandstone, in some instances, overlays the primary rocks which compose them. The rich and black soil to the south of the Nilgherries presents a strong contrast to the red and sandy earth of the opposite coast ; and both in the flora and fauna of the island there are exceptional pecuharities which suggest a distinction betAveen it and the Indian continent. Mountain System. — At whatever period the moun- tains of Ceylon may have been raised, the centre of maximum energy must have been in the vicinity of Adam's Peak, the group immediately surrounding ^ At Cutcliavelly, north of Triu- comalie, there exists a bed of cal- careous clay, in which shells and crustaceans are foimd in a semi- fossilised state ; but they are all of recent species, principally Macropli- thalmus and ScyUa. The breccia at Jaflha contains recent shells, as does also the arenaceous strata on the western coast of Mauaar and in the neighbourhood of Galle. The ex- istence of the fossilised crustaceans in the north of Ceylon was known to the early Arabian na\dgators. Abou-zeyd describes them as, "Un animal demer qui ressemble a I'ecrevisse ; quand cet animal sort de la mer, il se convert it en pierre^'' See Reinatjd, Voyages faits par les Arabcs, vol. i. p. 21. The Arabs then, and the Chinese at the present day, use these petrifactions when powdered as a specific for diseases of the eye. Chat. I.] GEOLOGY. 15 wliicli lias thus acquired an elevation of from six to eight thousand feet above the sea.^ The uplifting force seems to have been exerted from south-west to north- east ; and altliough there is much confusion in many of the intersecting ridges, the lower ranges, especially those to the south and west of Adam's Peak, from Saffraijani to Ambogammoa, manifest a remarkable tendency to run in parallel ridges in a direction from south-east to north- west. Towards the north, on the contrary, the offsets of the mountain system, with the exception of those which stretch towards Trincomalie, radiate to short distances in various directions, and speedily sink down to the level of the plain. Detached hills of great altitude are rare, the most celebrated being that of JMihintala, which over- looks the sacred city of Anarajapoora : and Sigiri is the only example in Ceylon of those solitary acchvities, which form so remarkable a feature in the table-land of the Dekkan, starting abruptly from the plain with scarped and perpendicular sides, and converted by the Indians into strongholds, accessible only by precipitous pathways, or steps hewn in the sohd rock. The crest of the Ceylon mountams is of stratified crystalhne rock, especially gneiss, with extensive veins of quartz, and through this the granite has been every- Avhere intruded, distorting the riven strata, and tilting them at all angles to the horizon. Hence at the abrupt terminations of some of the chains in the district of Saflfragam, plutonic rocks are seen mingled with the dislocated gneiss. Basalt makes its appearance both at Galle and Trincomahe. In one place to the east * The following are the heights of a few of the most remarkable places : — Pedrotallao-alla .... 8280 English feet. Ilimgalpotta Totapella Adam's Peak Naumioone-Koolle Plain of Neuera-ellia 7810 7720 7420 6740 6210 16 PHYSICAL GEOGRAPHY. [Part I. of Pettigalle-Kanda, the rocks have been broken up in such confusion as to resemble the effect of volcanic action — huge masses overhang each other hke suddenly-cooled lava ; and Dr. Gygax, a Swiss mineralogist, who was employed by the Government in 1847 to examine and report on the mineral resources of the district, stated, on his return, that having seen the volcanoes of the Azores, he found a " strange similarity at this spot to one of the semi-craters round the trachytic ridge of Seticidadas, in the island of St. Michael." ^ Gneiss. — The great geological feature of the island is, however, the profusion of gneiss, and the various new forms arising from its disintegration. In the mountains, with the exception of occasional beds of dolomite, no more recent formations overlie it ; from the period of its first upheaval, the gneiss has undergone no second submersion, and the soil which covers it in these lofty altitudes is formed almost entirely by its decay. In the lower ranges of the hills, gigantic portions of gneiss rise conspicuously, so detached from the original chain and so rounded by the action of the atmosphere, aided by their concentric lameUation, that but for their prodigious dimensions, they might be regarded as boulders. Close under one of these cyhndrical masses. ^ Beyond tlie very slightest sjonp- toms of disturbance, earthquakes are unknown in Ceylon : and although its geology exhibits little evidence of volcanic action (with the exception of the basalt, which occasionally pre- sents an appearance approaching to that of lava), there are some other incidents that seem to suggest the vicinity of fire ; more particularly the occuiTence of springs of high temperature, one at BaduUa, one at Kitool, near Bintenne, another near Y^avi Ooto, in the Veddah country, and a fourth at Cannea, near Trin- comalie. I have heard of another near the Patipal Aar, south of Bat- ticaloa. The water in each is so pure and free from salts that the natives make use of it for all domestic pur- poses. Dr. Davy adverts to another indication of volcanic agency in the sudden and profound depth of the noble harbour at Trincomalie, which even close by the beach is said to have been hitherto unfathomed. The Spaniards believed Ceylon to be volcanic ; and Argensola, in his Cmiqmsta de las 3Ialucas, Madrid, 1609, says it produced liquid bitumen and sulplim*: — "Fuentes de betun liquido,ybolcanes de perpetuas llamas que arrojan entre las asperezas de la montahalosas de a^ufre." — Lib. v. p. 184. It is needless to say that this is altoo-ether imas-inai-v. Chap. I.] " CABOOK." 17 600 feet in height, and upwards of three miles in lengtli, the town of Kornegalle, one of the ancient capitals of the island, has been built ; and the great temple of Dambool, the most remarkable Buddhist edifice in Ceylon, is constructed under the hollow edge of another, its gilded roof being formed by the inverted arch of the natural stone. The tendency of the gneiss to assume these concentric and almost circular forms has been taken advantage of for tliis purpose by the Singhalese priests, and some of their most venerated temples are to be found under the shadow of the overarching strata, to the imperishable nature of which the priests point as symbolical of the eternal diu'ation of their faith. ^ Laterite or " Cahook." — A pecuharity, which is one of the first to strike a stranger who lands at Galle or Colombo, is the bright red colour of the streets and roads, contrasting vividly with the verdure of the trees, and the ubiquity of the fine red dust which penetrates every crevice and imparts its own tint to every neglected article. Natives resident in these localities are easily recognisable elsewhere, by the general hue of their dress. This is occasioned by the prevalence along the western coast of laterite, or, as the Singhalese call it, cabook, a product of disintegrated gneiss, which being subjected to detrition communicates its hue to the soil.^ ' The concentric lamellar strata < procurable from a quariy close to of the g-neiss sometimes extend with ' the high road on the landward side ; a radius so prolonged that slabs may i in which, however, the gems are in be cut from them and used in sub- i every case reduced to splinters, stitution for beams of timber, and as [ ^ According to the Mrihawa/iso, such they are frequently employed j " Tamba-panui," one of those names in the construction of Buddhist tern- | by which Ceylon was anciently pies. At Piagalla, on the road be- I called, originated in an incident tween Galle and Colombo, within ' connected with the invasion of about four miles of Caltura, there is ; Wijayo, B.C. 543, whose followers, a gneiss hill of this description on I " exhausted by sea-sickness and faint which a temple has been so erected. I from weakness, sat down at the In this particidar rock the garnets spot where they had landed out of usually found in gneiss are replaced ' the vessels, suppoi-ting themselves by rubies, and nothing can exceed j on the palms of their hands pressed the beauty of the hand-specimens | to the gTOimd, whence the name VOL. I. C PHYSICAL GEOGEAPHY. [Part T. The transformation of gneiss into laterite in these localities has been attributed to the circumstance, that those sections of the rock which undergo transition exhibit grains of magnetic iron ore partially dissemi- nated through them ; and the phenomenon of the conversion has been explained not by recurrence to the ordinary conception of mere weathering, Avhich is inadequate, but to the theory of catalytic action, regard bemg had to the pecuharity of magnetic iron when viewed m its chemical formula.^ The oxide of iron thus produced communicates its colouring to the laterite, and in proportion as felspar and hornblende abound in the gneiss, the cabook assumes respectively a white or yellow hue. So ostensible is the series of mutations, that in ordinary excavations there is no difficulty in tracing a continuous connection without definite hnes of demarcation between the soil and the laterite on the one hand, and the laterite and gneiss rock on the other.^ of Tamba-pannyo, ' copper-palmed,^ from tlie colour of the soil. From this circumstance that wilderness obtained the name of Tamba-panni ; and from the same cause also this renowned laud became celebrated under that name." — Ttjunouk's 3fa- hawanso, ch. vi. p. 50. From Tamba- panni came the Greek name for Ceylon, Taprobane. Mr. de Alwis has correlated an error in this passage of Mr. Tumour's translation ; the word in the original, which he took for Tumha-panniyo, or ''copper-palmed," being in reality tamha-vaima, or " copper-colom-ed." Colonel Forbes questions the accuracy of this de- rivation, and attributes the name to the tammia trees ; from the abun- dance of which he says many vil- lages in Ceylon, as well as a district in southern India, have been simi- larly called. {^EleiTii Years in Ceylon, vol. i. p. 10.) I have not succeeded in discovering what tree is desig- nated by this name, nor does it occur in jMoon's List of Ceylon Plants, On the southern coast of India a river, which flows from the ghats to the sea, passing Tinnevelly, is called Tambapanni. Tambapanni, as the designation of Ceylon, occurs in the inscription on the rock of Gimar in Guzerat, deciphered by Prinsep, con- taining an edict by Asoka relative to the medical administration of In- dia for the relief both of man and beast. (Asiat. Soc. Journ. Bemj. vol. vii. p. 158.) ^ From a paper read to the Royal Physical Society of Edinburgh by the Eev. J. G. Macvicar, D.D. ^ From a paper on the Geology of Ceylon, by Dr. Gardner, in the Ap- pendix to Lee's translation of Ri- BEYEo's History of Ceylon, p. 206. The earliest and one of the ablest essays on the geological system and mineralogy of Ceylon Avill be found in Davy's Account of the Interior of Ceylon, London, 1821. It has, how- ever, been corrected and enlarged by recent investigators. Chap. I.] CORAL. 19 The tertiary rocks wliicli form such remarkable featm^es in the geology of other countries are almost unkno^^^l in Ceylon ; and the " clay-slate, silurian, old red sandstone, carboniferous, new red sandstone, oohtic, and cretaceous systems " have not as yet been recognised in any part of the island.^ Crystalline limestone in some places overhes the gneiss, and is worked for oecono- mical purposes in the mountain districts where it occmrs.^ Along the western coast, from Point-de-Galle to Chilaw, breccia is found near the shores, from the agglutination of coraUines and shells mixed with sand, and the disintegrated particles of gneiss. These beds present an appearance very closely resembhng a similar rock, in wliich human remains have been found imbed- ded, at the north-east of Guadaloupe, now in the British Museum.^ Incorporated with them there are minute fragments of sappliires, rubies, and tourmahne, shoAving that the sand of wliich the breccia is composed has been washed down by the rivers from the mountain zone. NoRTiiERX Provinces. — Coral Formation. — But the principal scene of the most recent formations is the extreme north of the island, with the adjoining penin- sula of Jaffna. Here the coral rocks abound far above high-water mark, and extend across the island where the land has been gradually upraised, from the eastern to the western shore. The fortifications of Jaffna were built by the Dutch, from blocks of breccia quarried far from the sea, and still exhibit, in then' worn surface, the outhne of the shells and corallines of which tliey mauily consist. The roads, in the absence of more solid sub- stances, are metalled Avith the same material ; as the only other rock which occurs is a loose description of ^ Dr. Gardner. ^ In the maritime provinces lime for building is obtained by burning the coral and madrepore, which for this piu'pose is industriously collected by the fishermen during the intervals when the wind is off shore. ^ Dr. GardTier. 20 PHYSICAL GEOGRAPHY. [Part I. conglomerate, similar to that at Adam's Bridge and Manaar. The phenomenon of the gradual upheaval of these strata is sufficiently attested by the position in which they appear, and their altitude above high-water mark ; but, in close contiguity with them, an equally striking evidence presents itself in the fact that, at various points of the western coast, between the island of Manaar and Karativoe, the natives, in addition to fishing for chank shells^ in the sea, dig them up in large quantities from beneath the soil on the adjacent shores, in which they are deeply imbedded^, the land having since been upraised. The sand, which covers a vast extent of the peninsula of Jaffiia, and in which the coco-nut and Palmyra-palm grow freely, has been carried by the currents from the coast of India, and either flung upon the northern beach in the winter months, or driven into the lake during the south-west monsoon, and thence washed on shore by the ripple, and distributed by the mud. The arable soil of Jaffna is generally of a deep red colour, from the admixture of h-on, and, being largely composed of lime from the comminuted coral, it is sus- ceptible of the highest cultivation, and produces crops of great luxuriance. This tillage is carried on exclusively by irrigation from innumerable wells, into which the water rises fi'esh through the madrepore and sand ; there being no streams in the district, unless those percolations can be so called which make their way underground, and rise through the sands on the margin of the sea at low water. Wells in the Coral Rock. — These phenomena occur at Jaffiia, in consequence of the rocks being magnesian hmestone and coral, overlying a bed of sand, and ^ Turhinella rapa, formerly known as Vohita c/ravis, used by llie people of India to be sawn into bangles and anklets. ^ In 1845 an antique iron anchor was found under the soil at the north- western point of Jafiua, of such size and weight as to show tliat it must have belonged to a ship of much greater tonnage than any which the depth of water would permit to navi- gate the channel at the present day. Chap. I.J COILVL AVELLS. 21 in some places, where the soil is hght, the smface of the ground is a hollow arch, so that it resounds as if a horse's weight were sufficient to crush it inwards. This is strikingly perceptible in the vicinity of the remark- able well at Potoor^, on the west side of the road lead- ing from Jaffiia to Point Pedi^o, where the surface of the surrounding country is only about fifteen feet above the sea-level. The well, however, is upwards of 140 feet in depth ; the water fr-esh at the surface, bracldsh lower down, and intensely salt below. According to the universal belief of the inhabitants, it is an under- ground pool, which commumcates with the sea by a subterranean channel bubbhng out on the shore near Kangesentorre, about seven miles to the north-west. A similar subterranean stream is said to conduct to the sea from another singular well near Tillipalli, in sinkuig which the workmen, at the depth of fourteen feet, came to the ubiquitous coral, the crust of which gave way, and showed a cavern below containing the water they were in search of, with a depth of more than thirty- three feet. It is remarkable that the well at TilhpaUi preserves its depth at all seasons alike, uninfluenced by rains or drought ; and a steam-engine erected at Potoor, mth the intention of irrigating the surrounding lands, failed to lower it in any perceptible degree. Other wells, especiaUy some near the coast, maintain thek level with such uniformity as to be inexliaustible at any season, even after a succession of years of di^ought — a fact from which it may fairly be inferred that tlieir supply is chiefly derived by percolation from the sea.''^ ^ For the particulars of this singiilar well, see Vol. II. Pt. ix. ch. vi. p. 536. ~ Daraat:n, in his admirable account of the coral fonnations of the Pacific and Indian oceans, has propounded a theor\r as to the abundance of fresh water in the atolls and islands on coral reefs, furnished by wells which ebb and flow -w-ith the tides. Assum- ing it to be impossible to separate salt from sea water by filtration, he suggests that the porous coral rock being pemieated b}' salt water, tlie rain which fiills on the siu-face must sink to the leA'el of the si r rounding sea, "and must accumulate there, displacing an equal bulk of sea water — and as the portion of the latter in the lower part of the gi-eat sponge- like mass rises and falls with the 22 PHYSICAL GEOGRAPHY. [Part I. All idea of the general aspect of Cejdon will be formed from what has here been described. Nearly four parts of the island are undulating plains, shghtly diversified tides, so will the fresh water near the surface." — Nafuralist''s Journal, ch. XX. But subsequent experiments have demonstrated that the idea of separating the salt hy filtration is not altogether imaginarj'', as Darwin seems to have then supposed, and Mr. WiXT, in a remarkable paper On a peculiar poiver possessed hy Poroics Media of removing matters from solution in water, has since suc- ceeded in showing that " water con- taining considerable quantities of saline matter in solution may, by merely percolating through great masses of porous strata during long- periods, be gi'adually deprived of its salts to such an extent as prohably to render even sea-water fresh^ — Pkilos. Mag., 1856. Divesting the subject therefore of this difficulty, other doubts would appear to suggest them- selves as to the applicability of Dar- win's theory to coral formations in general. For instance, it might be supposed that rain falling on a sub- stance already saturated with mois- ture, would flow oft'instead of sinking into it; and that being of less specific gravity than salt water, it would fail to "displace an equal bidk" of the latter. There are some extraordinaiy but well attested statements of a thin layer of fresh water being foimd on the surface of the sea, after heavj' rains in the Bay of Bengal. (Journ. Asiat. Soc. Beng. vol. v. p. 239.) Besides, I fancy that in the majority of atolls and coral islands the quantity of rain which so small an area is calcvdated to intercept would be insufficient of itself to accoimt for the extraordinaiy abundance of fresh water daily drawn from the wells. For instance, the superficial extent of each of the Lac- cadives is but two or three square miles, the surface soil resting on a crust of coral, beneath which is a stratum of sand ; and yet on reaching the latter, fresh water flows in such profusion, tliat ^^'ells and large tanks for soaking coco-nut fibre are formed in any place by merely " breaking through the crust and taking out the sand." — 3Iadras Journal, vol. xiv. It is cm-ious that the abundant sup- ply of water in these wells should have attracted the attention of the early navigators, and Cosmas Lidico- pleustes, writing in the sixth century, speaks of the numerous small islands ofi" the coast of Taprobane, with abundance of fresh water and coco- nut palms, although these islands rest on a bed of sand. (Cosmas Ind. ed, Thevenot, vol. i. p. 3, 20). It is remarkable that in the little island of Ramisseram, one of the chain which connects Adam's Bridge with the In- dian continent, fresh water is fomid freely on sinking for it in the sand. But this is not the case in the adj a- cent island of Manaar, which partici- pates in the geologic character of the interior of Ceylon. The fresh water in the Laccadive wells always fluc- tuates with the rise and fall of the tides. In some rare instances, as on the little island of Bitra, which is the smallest inhabited spot in the group, the water, though abundant, is brack- ish, but this is susceptible of an ex- planation quite consistent with the experiments of Mr. Witt, which require that the pi'ocess of perco- lation shall be continued "during long periods and through great tnasses of j)0}-ous strata;" Darwin equally concedes that to keep the rain fresh when banked in, as he assumes, by the sea, the mass of madrepore must be " sufficiently thick to prevent mechanical admixture ; and where the land consists of loose blocks of coral with open interstices, the water, if a well be dug, is brackish." Con- ditions analogous to all these parti- cularised, present themselves at Jaffna, and seem to indicate that the extent to which fresh water is found there, is directly connected with per- colation from the sea. The quantity Chap. I.] COKAL WELLS. 23 by offsets from the mountain system which entirely covers the remaining fifth. Every district, from the depths of the valleys to the summits of the highest hiUs, is clothed "wdth perennial fohage ; and even the sand-drifts, to the ripple on the sea hne, are carpeted of rain wliicla anniially falls is less than in Enjiiand, being but thii-ty inches ; whilst the average heat is highest in Ceylon, and the evaporation great in proportion. Throughout the peninsula, I am informed by Mr. BjTne, the Government surveyor of the district, that as a general rule " all the uvlls are helow the sea level." It would be useless to sink them in the higher ground, where they could only catch surfece water. The No- vember rains fill them at once to the brim, but the water quickly subsides as the season becomes dry, and " sinJin to the toiifonn level, at which it re- mains fixed for the next nine or ten months, imless when slightly affected by showers." '' No well heloxo the sea level becomes dry of itself," even in seasons of extreme and continued drought. But the contents do not vaiy with the tides, the rise of which is so trifling that the distance from the ocean, and the slowness of filtra- tion, renders its fluctuations imper- ceptible. On the other hand, the well of Potoor, the phenomena of which in- dicate its direct connection with the sea, by means of a fissure or a channel beneath the arch of magiiesian lime- stone, rises and falls a few inches in the com'se of every twelve hours. Another well at Xavokeiry, a short distancefrom it, does the same, whilst the well at Tillipalli is entirely im- affected as to its level by any rains, and exhibits no alteration of its depths on either monsoon. Admiral FiTZROT, in his Narrative of the Survei/inf/ Voyayes of the Adventure and Beayle, the expedition to which IMi*. Darwin was attached, adverts to the phenomenon in connection with the fresh water foimd in the Coral Islands, and the rise and fiill of the wells, and the flow and ebb of the tide. lie advances the theory pro- poimded by Dai-win of the retention of the river-water, which he says, " does not mix with the salt water which sm-romids it except at the edges of the land. The flowing tide pushes on every side, the mixed soil being very porous, and causes the water to rise : wlien the tide falls, the fresh water sinks also. A sponge fall of fresh water placed gently in a basin of salt water, ivill not jnirt with its contents for a length of time if left untouched, and the water in the middle of the sponge will be found untainted by salt for many days: perhaps miich longer if tried." — -Vol. i. p. 365. In a perfectly motionless medium the experiment of the sponge may no doubt be successfiU to the extent mentioned by Admiral Fitzroy ; and so the rain-water imbibed by a coral rock might for a length of time re- main fresh where it came into no contact with the salt. But the dis- turbance caused by the tides, and the partial intermixture admitted by Admiral Fitzroy, must by reiterated occm-rence tend in time to taint the fresh water which is affected by the movement : and this is demonstrable e-\en hy the test of the sponge ; for I find that on charging one with coloured fluid, and immersing it in a vessel con- taining water perfectly pure, no inter- mixture takes place so long as the pure water is undisturbed ; but on causing an artificial tide, by gradually with- drawing and as gradually replacing a portion of the siu-rounding contents of the basin, the tinted water in the sponge becomes displaced and dis- turbed, and in the course of a few ebbs and flows its escape is made manifest by the quantity of colour which it impai'ts to the surrounding fluid. c 4 24 PHYSICAL GEOGEAPHY. [Part L with verdure, and sheltered from the sunbeams by the cool shadows of the palm groves. Soil. — But the soil, notwithstanding this wonderful display of spontaneous vegetation, is not responsive to systematic cultivation, and is but imperfectly adapted for maturino; a constant succession of seeds and cereal productions.^ Hence arose the disappointment which beset the earhest adventurers who opened plantations of coffee in the hills, on discovering that after the first rapid development of the plants, delicacy and languor ensued, which were only to be corrected by returning to the earth, in the form of manures, those elements with which it had originally been but sparingly supphed, and wliich were soon exhausted by the first experiments in cultivation. Patenas. — The only spots hitherto found suitable for planting coffee, are those covered by the ancient forests of the mountain zone ; and one of the most remarkable phenomena in the (Economic history of the island, is the fact that the grass lands on the same hills, closely ad- joining the forests and separated from them by no visible hue save the growth of the trees, although they seem to be identical in the nature of the soil, have hitherto proved to be utterly insusceptible of reclama- tion or culture by the coffee planter.^ These verdant openings, to which tlie natives have given the name of patenas, generally occur about the middle elevation of the hills, the summits and the hollows being covered with the customary growth of timber trees, which also fringe the edges of the mountain streams that trickle down these park-hke openings. The forest approaches boldly to the very edge of a " patena," not disappearing ^ See a paper in the Journal of Agi'iculture, for March, 1857, Edin. : on Trojncal Cultivation and its Limits, by Dr. Macvicak. ' 2 Smce the above was -written, attempts have been made, chiefly by natives, to plant coffee on patena land. The result is a conviction that the cultivation is practicable, by the use of manures from the beginning-; •w^aereas forest land is capable, for three or four years at least, of yield- ing coffee -without any artificial en- richment of the soil. Chap. L] PATENAS. 25 gradually or sinking into a groAvth of underwood, but stopping abruptly and at once, the tallest trees forming a fence around the avoided spot, as if they enclosed an area of sohd stone. These sunny expanses vary in width from a few yards to many thousands of acres ; in the lower ranges of the hills they are covered with tall lemon-grass {Aiidropogoii schoenanthus)^ of Avhich the op- pressive perfimie and coarse texture, when full grown, render it distasteful to cattle, which mU only crop the dehcate braird that springs after the surface has been annually burnt by tlie Kandyans. Two stunted trees, alone, are seen to thrive in these extraordinary prairies, Careya arborea, and Emblica officinalis^ and these only below an altitude of 4000 feet ; above this, the lemon- grass is superseded by harder and more why species ; but the earth is still the same, a mixture of decomposed quartz largely impregnated with oxide of u'on, but wanting the phosphates and other salts which are essential to highly organised vegetation.^ The extent of the patena land is enormous in Ceylon, amounting to miUions of acres ; and it is to be hoped that the com- plaints which have hitherto been made by the experi- mental cidtivators of coffee in the Kandyan provhices may hereafter prove exaggerated, and that much that has been attributed to tlie poverty of the soil may even- tually be traced to deficiency of skill on the part of the early planters. ■ The natives in the same lofty locahties find no defi- cient returns in the crops of rice, which they raise m the ravines and hollows, into which the earth from above has been washed by the periodical rains ; but the cultivation of rice is so entkely dependent on the ^ HrjrBOLDT is disposed to ascribe tlie absence of trees iu the vast grassy plains of South America, to " the destructive custom of setting fire to the woods, when the natives want to convert the soil into pasture : when during the lapse of centuries grasses and plants ha\e covered the surface with a cai-jiet, the seeds of trees can no longer germinate and fix them- selves in the earth, although bii-ds and winds carry them continually fi'om the distant forests into the ^SLvarmsihs."- -Narrative, vol. i. ch. vi. p. 242. 26 PHYSICAL GEOGEAPHY. [Part I. jDresence of Avater, that no inference can be fairly drawn as to the quahty of the soil from the abundance of its harvest. The fields on which rice is grown in these mountains form one of the most picturesque and beautiful objects in the coimtry of the Kandyans. Selecting an angular recess where two hills converge, they construct a series of terraces, raised stage above stage, and retiring as they ascend along the slope of the acchvity, up which they are carried as high as tlie soil extends.^ Each terrace is furnished with a low ledge in front, behind which the requisite depth of water is retained during the germination of the seed, and what is superfluous is permitted to trickle down to the one below it. In order to carry on this pecuhar cultivation the streams are led alone the level of the hills, often from a distance of many miles, wdth a skill and perseverance for which the natives of these mountains have attained a great renown. In the lowlands to the south, the soil partakes of the character of the hiUs from whose detritus it is to a great extent formed. In it rice is the chief article produced, and for its cultivation the disinte- grated laterite {cahook), when thoroughly h-rigated, is sufiiciently adapted. The seed time in the southern section of tlie island is dependent on the arrival of the rains in November and May, and hence the moun- tains and the maritime districts at their base enjoy two harvests in each year — the Maha, which is sown about July and August, and reaped in December and January, and the Yalla^ which is sown in spring, and reaped from the 15th of July to the 20th September. But owing to the different description of seed sown in particular localities, and the extent to which they are '' The conversion of tlie land into these hanging- favms is kno^ai in Cey- lon as " assnedamizing," a term bor- rowed from the Kandyan vernacular, in which the word '^ assuedame " im- plies the process above described. Chap. I.] TALAWAS. 27 respectively affected by tlie rains, the times of sowing and harvest vary considerably on different sides of the ishmd.^ Li the north, where the influence of the monsoons is felt with less force and regularity, and where, to counteract their uncertainty, the rain is collected in reservoks, a wider discretion is left to the iiusband- , man in the choice of season for his operations.^ Two crops of grain, however, are the utmost that is taken from the land, and in many instances only one. The soil near the coast is hght and sandy, but in the great central districts of Neuera-kalawa and the Wanny, tliere is found in the midst of the forests a dark vegetable mould, in which in former times rice was abundantly grown by the aid of those prodigious artificial works for irrigation which still form one of the wonders of the island. Many of the tanks, though partially in ruins, cover an area from ten to fifteen miles in circum- ference. They are now generally broken and decayed ; the waters which would fertihse a province are allowed to waste themselves in the sands, and hundreds of square miles capable of furnishing food for all the in- habitants of Ceylon are abandoned to sohtude and malaria, whilst rice for the support of the non-agricultural popu- lation is annually imported from the opposite coast of India. Talawas. — In these districts of the lowlands, espe- cially on the eastern coast of the island, and in the country watered by the Mahawelli-ganga and the other great rivers which flow towards the Bay of Bengal and the magnificent estuary of Trincomalie, there are open glades which diversify the forest scenery somewhat ^ The reaping of otlaer descriptions of gTain besides rice occurs at yarioiis periods of the year according to the locality. - This peculiarity of the north of Ceylon was noticed by the Cliinese traveller Fa IIian, who visited tlie island in the fom-th century, and says of the country around Anarajapoora : " L'ensemencement des champs est suivant la volonte des gens ; il n'y a point de temps pour cela." — Foe Koiw Ki, p. 332. 28 PHYSICAL GEOGRAPnr; [Part I. resembling the grassy patenas in the liills, but differing from them in the character of thek soil and vegetation. These park-hke meadows, or, as the natives call them, " talawas, " vary in extent from one to a thousand acres. They are belted by the surrounding woods, and studded with groups of timber and sometimes with single trees of majestic dimensions. Through these pastures the deer troop in herds within gunshot, bounding into the nearest cover when disturbed. Lower still and immediately adjoining the sea-coast, the broken forest gives place to brushwood, with liere and there an assemblage of dwarf sln^ubs ; but as far as the eye can reach, there is one vast level of impenetrable jungle, broken only by the long sweep of salt marshes which form lakes in the rainy season, but are dry between the monsoons, and crusted with crystals that ghtter hke snow in the sunshine. On tlie western side of the island the rivers have formed broad alluvial plains, in which the Dutch at- tempted to grow sugar. The experiment has been oflcn resumed since ; but even here the soil is so defective, that the cost of artificially enriching it has hitherto been a serious obstruction to success commercially, although in one or two instances, plantations on a small scale have succeeded to a certain extent. Metals. — The plutonic rocks of Ceylon are but slightly metalliferous, and hitherto their veins and de- posits have been but imperfectly examined. The first successful survey attempted by the Government was undertaken during the administration of Viscount Tor- rington, who, in 1847, commissioned Dr. Gygax to proceed to the hill district south of Adam's Peak, and furnish a report on its products. His investigations extended from Eatnapoora, in a south-eastward direc- tion, to the mountains which overhang Bintenne, but the results obtained did not greatly enlarge the know- ledge previously possessed. He estabhshed the exist- Chap. I.] METALS. 29 ence of tin in the alliiviiim along the base of tlie moimtams to the eastward towards Edelgashena ; but so circumstanced, owing to the flow of the Walleway river, that, without lowering its level, the metal could not be extracted with advantage. The position in which it occurs is similar to that in which tin ore presents itself in Saxony ; and along with it, the natives, when search- ing for gems, discover garnets, corundum, white topazes, zircon, and tourmaline. Gold is found in minute particles at Gettyhedra, and in the beds of the Maha Oya and other rivers flowing towards the west.^ But the quantity hitherto discovered has been too tri\dal to reward the search. The early in- habitants of the island were not ignorant of its presence ; but its occurrence on a memorable occasion, as well as that of silver and copper, is recorded in the Mahawanso as a miraculous manifestation, which signahsed the foundmg of one of the most renowned shrines at the ancient capital.^ Nickel and cobalt appear in small quantities in Saf- fragam, and the latter, together with rutile (an oxide of titanium) and wolfram^ might find a market in China for the colouring of porcelain.^ Tellurium^ another rare and valuable metal, hitherto found only in Transylvania and the Ural, has hkewise been discovered in these ^ Riianwelle, a fort about forJ.y miles distant from Colombo, derives its name from tlie sands of the river wliicli flows below it, — rang-welle, "golden sand." '^ Rang-galla," in tbe central province, is referable to the same root — the rock of gold. 2 MahaxoansOy eh. xxiii. p. 166, 167. ^ The Asiatic Annual Hecfister for 1799 contains the following : — "Extract from a leHo' from Colombo, dated 2ijth Oct. 1798. " A discovery has been lately made here of a very rich mine of quicksilver, about six miles from this place. The appearances are very promising, for a handfid of the earth on the surface will, by being washed, produce the value of a rupee. A guard is set over it, and accounts sent express to the Madras Government." — P. 53. See also Peecival's Ceylon, p. 539. JoiNviLLE, in a MS. essay on TJie Geology of Ceylon, now in the library of the East India Company, says that near Trincomalie there is " im sable noir, compose de deti-iments de trappe et de cristaux de fer, dans lequel on trouve par le lavage beaucoup de mercure" 30 PHYSICAL GEOGRAPHY. [Part I. mountains. Manganese is abundant, and Iron occurs in the form of magnetic iron ore, titanite, chromate, yellow hydrated, per-oxide and iron pyrites. In most of these, however, the metal is scanty, and the ores of little comparative value, except for the extraction of man- ganese and chrome. " But there is another description of iron ore, " says Dr. Gygax, in his official report to the Ceylon Government, " which is found in vast abundance, brown and compact, generally in the state of carbonate, though still blended with a httle chrome, and often molybdena. It occurs in large masses and veins, one of which extends for a distance of fifteen miles ; from it milhons of tons might be smelted, and when found ad- jacent to fuel and water-carriage, it might be worked t(3 a profit. The quality of the iron ore found in Ceylon is singularly fine ; it is easily smelted, and so pm-e when reduced as to resemble silver. The rough ore produces from tliirty to seventy-jive per cent., and on an average fully fifty. The h"on ^vrought from it requires no puddling, and, converted into steel, it cuts lilce a dia- mond. The metal could be laid down in Colombo at £6 per ton, even supposing the ore to be brought thither for smelting, and prepared with English coal ; but anthracite being found upon the spot, it could be used in the proportion of three to one of the British coal ; and the cost correspondingly reduced. " Eemains of ancient furnaces are met with in all du-ections precisely similar to those still in use amongst the natives. The Singhalese obtain the ore they require without the trouble of mining ; seeking a spot where the soil has been loosened by the latest rains, they break off a sufficient quantity, which, in less than three hours, they convert into kon by the simplest possible means. None of their furnaces are capable of smelting more than twenty pounds of ore, and yet this quantity yields from seven to ten pounds of good metal. The anthracite alluded to by Dr. Gygax is found in Chap. I.] MINEEALS. 31 the southern range of hills near Nambepane, in close proximity to rich veins of plumbago, which are largely- worked in the same district, and the quantity of the latter annually exported from Ceylon exceeds a thou- sand tons. Molyhdena is found in profusion dispersed through many rocks in SafTragam, and it occurs in the allu\'ium in grey scales, so nearly resembhng plumbago as to be commonly mistaken for it. Kaolin, called by the natives Kirimattie, appears at Neuera-elha at Hewa- hette, Kaduganawa, and in many of the higher ranges as well as in the low country near Colombo ; its colour is so clear as to suit for the manufacture of porcelain^; but the difficulty and cost of carriage render it as yet unavaihng for commerce, and the only use to which it has hitherto been apphed is to serve for whitewash in- stead of hme. Nitre has long been known to exist in Ceylon, where the locahties in which it occurs are similar to those in Brazil. In SafTragam alone there are upwards of sixty caverns known to the natives, from which it may be extracted, and others exist in various parts of the island, where the abundance of wood to assist in its hxiviation w^ould render that process easy and profitable. Yet so sparingly has this been hitherto attempted, that even for purposes of refrigeration, crude saltpetre is still imported from India. ^ Gems. — But the chief interest which attaches to the ^ The kaolin of Ceylon, according to an analysis in 1847, consists of — Pure kaolin . . . 70-0 Silica . . . .26-0 Molybdena and iron oxide 4-0 100-0 In tLe 3Iing-she, or history of the Ming dynasty, a.d. 1308 — 1643, by Chan-ting-yiih, '^ pottery-stone " is enimierated among the imports into China from Ceylon. — B. cccxxvi. p. 5. '^ The mineralogy of Ceylon has hitherto undergone no scientific scru- tinj', nor have its mineral productions been arranged in any systematic and comprehensive catalogue. Specimens are to be found in abimdance in the hands of native dealers; but from indifterence or caution they express their inability to afford adequate in- formation as to their locality, their geological position, or even to show with sufficient certainty that they belong to the island. Dr. Gygax, as the residts of some years spent in ex- ploring different districts previous to 32 PHYSICAL GEOGEAPHY. [Part L iiiountains and rocks of this region, arises from the fact that they contain those mines of precious stones which from time immemorial have conferred renown on Ceylon. The ancients celebrated the gems as well as the pearls of " Taprobane ; " the tales of mariners retmiiing from their eastern expeditions supphed to the story-tellers of the Arabian Nights their fables of the jewels of "Serendib;" and the travellers of the Middle Ages, on retnrning to Europe, told of the " sap- phires, topazes, amethysts, garnets, and other costly stones" of Ceylon, and of the ruby which belonged to 1847, was enabled to furnisli a list of which he had deteraiined by personal but thirty-seven species^ the site of inspection. These were : — 1. Rock crystal . Abundant. 2. Iron qnartz . Saffi-agam. 3. Common quartz . Abimdant. 4. Amethyst . Galle Back, Caltura. 5. Garnet . Abundant. 6. Cinnamon stone . Belligam. 7. Harmotome . St. Lucia, Colombo. 8. Hornblende . Abimdant. 9. Hj'persthene Ditto. 10. Common corundum . . Badulla. 11. Euby Ditto and SafFragam. 12. Chrysoberyl . Ratganga, North Safti'agam. 13. Pleonaste . Badulla. 14. Zircon . Wallawey-ganga, Safiragam. 15. Mica Abundant. 16. Adidar . Patna Hills, North-east. 17. Common felspar . Abimdant. 18. Green felspar . Kandy. 19. Albite . Melly Matte. 20. Chlorite , . Kandy. 21. Finite . Patna Hills. 22. Black tomunaline . Neuera-ellia. 23. Calcspar . Abimdant. 24. Bitterspar . Ditto. 25. Apatite . Galle Back. 2G. Fluorspar . Ditto. 27. Chiastolite . Mount Lavinia. 28. Iron pyrites . Peradenia. 29. Magnetic iron pyrites Ditto, Rajawelle. 30. Bro-wTi iron ore . Abundant. 31. Spathose iron ore . Galle Back. 32. Manganese . Saffi-agam. 83. Molybden glance . Abimdant. 34. Tin ore . Saffi-agam. 35. Arseniate of nickel . . Ditto. 36. Plumbago . Morowa Corle. 37. Epistilbite , St. Lucia. Chap. I.J GEMS. 33 the king of the island, " a span in length, without a flaw, and brilliant beyond description."^ The extent to which gems are still found is sufficient to account for the early traditions of their splendour and profusion ; and fabulous as this story of the ruby of the Kandyan kings may be, the abundance of gems in SafFragam has given to the capital of the district the name of Ratnapoora^ which means hterally " the city of rubies."^ They are not, however, confined to this quarter alone, but quantities are still found on the western plains between Adam's Peak and the sea, at JSTeuera-elha, in Oovah, at Kandy, at Mattelle in the central province, and at Euanwelh near Colombo, at Matura, and in the beds of the rivers eastwards towards the ancient Mahagam. But the locahties which chiefly supply the Ceylon gems are the allu\dal plains at the foot of the stu- pendous hills of Safli'agam, in which the detritus of the rocks has been carried down and intercepted by the shght elevations that rise at some distance from the base of the mountains. The most remarkable of these gem-bearing deposits is in the flat country around Ballangodde, south-east of Katnapoora ; but almost every valley in communication with the rocks of the higher ranges contains stones of more or less value, and the beds of the rivers flowing southward from the mountain chain are so rich in comminuted fragments of rubies, sapphires, and garnets^, that their sands in ^ TraveU of ^Iknco Polo, a Vene- tian, in tJie Thirtee)dh Century, Lend. 1818. •i In tlie vicinity of Ratnapoora there are to be obtained masses of quartz of tbe most delicate rose colour. Some pieces, wbich were brought to me in Colombo, were of extraordinary beauty ; and I have reason to believe that it can be ob- tained in pieces large enough to be used as slabs for tables, or formed into vases and columns. I mayobsen'e VOL. I. D that similar pieces are to be found in the south of Ireland, near Cork. ^ Mr. Bakee, in a work entitled Tlie Rifle and the Hound in Cei/lon, thus describes the sands of the Manic Ganga, near the ruins of Mahagam, in the south-eastern extremity of the island : — " The sand was composed of mica, quartz, sapphire, ruby, and jacinth ; but the large proportion of ruby sand was so extraordinary that it seemed to rival Sinbad's story of the vale of ""cnis. The whole of this 34 PHYSICAL GEOGEAPHY. [Part T. some places are used by lapidaries in polishing the softer stones, and in sawing the elephants' grinders into plates. The cook of a government officer at GaUe recently brought to him a ruby about the size of a small pea, which he had taken from the crop of a fowl. Of late years considerable energy has been shown by those engaged in the search for gems ; neglected dis- tricts have been explored, and new fields have been opened up at such places as Karangodde and Wera- loopa, whence stones have been taken of unusual size and value. It is not, however, in the recent strata of gravel, nor in those now in process of formation, that the natives search for gems. They penetrate these to the depth of from ten to twenty feet, in order to reach a lower deposit distinguished by the name of Nellan, in which the objects of their search are found. This is of so early a formation that it underhes the present beds of rivers, and is generally separated from them or from the superincumbent gravel by a hard crust (called Kadua\ a few inches in thickness, and so consohdated as to have somewhat the appearance of laterite, or of sun-burnt brick. The nellan is for the most part hori- zontal, but occasionally it is raised into an inchne as it approaches the base of the hills. It appears to have been deposited previous to the eruption of the basalt, on which in some places it rechnes, and to have undergone some alteration from the contact. It consists of water- worn pebbles firmly imbedded in clay, and occasionally there occur large lumps of granite and gneiss, in the hollows under which, as weU as in " pockets " in the clay (wliich from their shape the natives denominate was valueless, but tlie appearance of tlie sand was veiy inviting, as the shallow stream in rippling over it magnified the tiny gems into stones of some magnitude. I passed an hour in vainly searching for a ruby worth collecting, but the largest did not exceed the size of a mustard seed." — BAKEE'si?«)?e and Hound in Ceylon, p. 181. Chap. I.] GEMS. 35 " elephants' footsteps") gems are frequently found in groups as if washed in by the current. The persons who devote themselves to this uncertain pursuit are cliiefly Singhalese, and the season selected by them for "gemming" is between December and March, when the waters are low.^ The poorer and least enterprising adventurers betake themselves to the beds of streams, but the most certain though the most costly course is to sink pits in the adjacent plains, which are consequently indented with such traces of recent ex- plorers. The upper gravel is pierced, the covering crust is reached and broken through, and the neUan being shovelled into conical baskets and washed to free it from the sand, the residue is carefully searched for whatever I'ounded crystals and minute gems it may contain. It is strongly characteristic of the want of energy in the Singhalese, that although for centuries those alluvial plains and watercourses have been searched without ceasing, no attempt appears to have been made to explore the rocks themselves, in the debris of which the gems liave been brought down by the rivers. Dr. Gygax says : " I found at Hima Pohura, on the south-eastern decline of the Pettigalle-Kanda, about the middle of the descent, a stratum of grey granite containing, with iron pyiites and molybdena, innumerable rubies from one-tenth to a fourth of an inch in diameter, and of a fine rose colour, but spht and faUing to powder. It is not an isolated bed of minerals, but a regular stratum extending pro- bably to the same depth and distance as the other granite formations. I followed it as far as was practi- cable for close examination, but everywhere in the lower part of the vaUey I found it so decomposed that the hammer sunk in the rock, and even bamboos were growing on it. On the higlier ground near some ' A very interesting account of I Wm. Stewakt, appeared in the Co~ Gems and Gem Searcliing, by Mr. | lomho Observe)' for JimC; 1855. D 2 36 PHYSICAL GEOGRAPHY. [Part I. small round hills which intercept it, I found the rubies changed into brown corundum. Upon the hills them- selves the trace was lost, and instead of a stratum there was merely a wild chaos of blocks of yellow granite. I carefully examined all the minerals which this stratum contains, — felspar, mica, and quartz molybdena, and iron pyrites, — and I found all similar to those I had pre- viously got adhering to rough rubies offered for sale at Colombo. I firmly believe that in such strata the rubies of Ceylon are originally founds and that those in the wdiite and blue clay at Ballangodde and Eatnapoora are but secondary deposits. I am further inclined to beheve that these extend over the whole island, although often intercepted and changed in their direction by the rising of the yellow granite." It is highly probable that the finest rubies are to be found in them, perfect and unchanged by decomposition ; and that they are to be obtained by opening a regular mine in the rock hke the ruby mine of Badakshan in Bactria described by Sir Alexander Burnes. Dr. Gygax adds that having often received the minerals of this stratum mth the crystals perfect, he has reason to beheve that places are known to the natives where such mines might be opened witli confidence of success. Eubies both crystalline and amorphous are also found in a particular stratum of dolomite at BiiQatotte and BaduUa, in which there is a peculiar copper-coloured mica with metaUic lustre. Star rubies, the " asteria " of Phny (so called from their containing a movable six- rayed star), are to be had at Eatnapoora and for very trifling sums. The blue tinge which detracts from the value of the pure ruby, whose colour should resemble " pigeon's blood," is removed by the Singhalese, by enveloping the stone in the hme of a calcined shell and exposing it to a high heat. Spinel of extremely beauti- ful colours is found in the bed of the Mahawelh-ganga at Kandy, and from the locahty it has obtained the name of Candite. Cii.vr. T.J GEMS. 37 It is strange that althougli the sapphire is found in all this region in greater quantity than the ruby, it has never yet been discovered in the original matrix, and the small fra2;ments which sometimes occur in dolomite show that there it is but a deposit. From its exquisite colour and the size in which it is commonly found, it forms by far the most valuable gem of the island. A piece which was dug out of the aUuvium within a few miles of Eatnapoora in 1853, was purchased by a Moor at Colombo, in whose hands it was valued at upwards of four thousand pounds. The original site of the oriental topaz is equally un- known with that of the sapphire. The Singhalese rightly beheve them to be the same stone only differing in coloiu", and crystals are said to be obtained with one por- tion yellow and the other blue. Garnets of inferior quahty are common in the gneiss, but finer ones are found in the hornblende rocks. Cinnamon-stone (which is properly a variety of garnet) is so extremely abundant, that vast rocks con- taining it in profusion exist in many places, especiaUy in the alluvium around Matura ; and at Belhgam, a few miles east from Point-de-Galle, a vast detached rock is so largely composed of cinnamon-stones that it is carried off in lumps for the purpose of extracting and pohshing them. The Cats-eye is one of the jewels of which the Singhalese are especially proud, from a behef tliat it is only found in their island ; but in this I apprehend they are misinformed, as specimens of equal merit have been brought from Quilon and Cochin on the southern coast of Hindostan. The cat's-eye is a greenish translucent quartz, and when cut en cahochon it presents a moving internal reflection which is ascribed to the presence of filaments of asbestos. Its perfection is estimated by the natives in proportion to the narrowness and sharpness of the ray and the pure olive-tint of the ground over which it plays. D 3 38 PHYSICAL GEOGRAPHY. [Part I. Amethysts are found in the gneiss, and some discoloured though beautiful specimens in syenite ; they are too com- mon to be highly esteemed. The " Matura Diamonds," which are largely used by the native jewellers, consist of zircon, found in the syenite not only uncoloured, but also of pink and yellow tints, the former passing for rubies. But one of the prettiest though commonest gems in the island is the "Moon-stone," a variety of pearly adularia presenting chatoyant rays when simply pohshed. They are so abundant that the finest specimens may be bought for a few shillings. These, with aqua marina, a bad description of opal rock crystal in extremely large pieces, tourmaline^ and a number of others of no great value, compose the list of native gems procurable in Ceylon.^ Diamonds, emeralds, agates, carnehans, opal and turquoise, when they are exhibited by the natives, have all been imported from India. During the dynasty of the Kandyan sovereigns, the right of digging for gems was a royalty reserved jealously for the King ; and the inhabitants of particular villages were employed in their search under the superintendence of hereditary officers, with the rank of " Mudianse." By the British Government the monopoly was early abohshed as a source of revenue, and no hcense is now required by the jewel-hunters. Great numbers of persons of the worst-regulated habits are constantly engaged in this exciting and pre- carious trade ; and serious demoralisation is engendered amongst the villagers by the idle and dissolute adven- turers who resort to SafTragam. Systematic industry suffers, and the cultivation of the land is frequently ^ Caswiui and some of the Arabian geographers assert that the diamond IS fonnd at Adam's Peak ; but this is improbable, as there is no formation there resembling the cascalhao of Brazil or the diamond conolomerate of Golconda. K diamonds were of- fered for sale in Ceylon, in the time of the Ai-ab navigators, they must have been brought thither from India. (Journ. As, Soc, Ben//, xiii. 633.) CiiAP. I.] GEMS. 39 neglected whilst its owners are absorbed in these specula- tive and tantalising occupations. The products of their searches are disposed of to the Moors, who resort to Saffragam ft'om the low country, carrying up cloth and salt, to be exchanged for gems and coffee. At the annual Buddhist festival of the Pera-hara, a jewel-fair is held at Eatnapoora, to which the purchasers resort from all parts of Ceylon. Of late years, however, the condition of the people in Saffra- gam has so much improved that it has become difficult to obtain the finest jewels, the wealthier natives preferring to retain them as investments : they part with them reluctantly, and only for gold, which they find equaUy convenient for concealment.^ The lapidaries who cut and pohsh the stones are chiefly Moors, but their tools are so primitive, and their skill so deficient, that a gem generally loses in value by having passed through their hands. The inferior kinds, such as cinnamon-stones, garnets, and tourmahne, are pohshed by ordinary artists at Kandy, Matura, and Galle ; but the more expert lapidaries, who cut rubies and sapphires, reside chiefly at Caltm^a and Colombo. As a general rule, the rarer gems are less costly in Europe than in Colombo. In London and Paris the quantities brought from all parts of the world are suffi- cient to estabhsh something hke a market value ; but, in Ceylon, the supply is so uncertain that the price is always regulated at the moment by the rank and wealth of the purchaser. Strange to say, too, there is often an unwiUingness even amongst the Moorish dealers to sell the rarest and finest specimens ; those who are wealthy being anxious to retain them, and few but stones of secondary value are offered for sale. Besides, the Eajahs and native Princes of India, amongst whom the ^ So eager is the appetite for lioarding- in these hills, that eleven rupees (equal to twenty-two shillings) D 4 have frequently been given for a sovereisTi. 40 PHYSICAL GEOGEAPHY. [Part I. passion for jewels is universal, are known to give such extravagant prices that the best are always sent to them from Ceylon. From the Custom House returns it is impossible to form any calculation as to the value of the precious stones exported from the island. A portion only ap- pears, even of those sent to England, the remainder being carried away by private parties. Of the total number found, one-fourth is probably purchased by the natives themselves, more than one-half is sent to the Continent of India, and the remainder represents the export to Europe. Computed in this way, the quantity of precious stones found in the island may be estimated at 10,000/. per annum. EiVERS. — From the mountainous configuration of the country and the abundance of the rains, the rivers are large and numerous in the south of the island — ten of considerable magnitude flowing into the sea on the west coast, between Point-de-Galle and Manaar, and a still greater number, though inferior in volume, on the east. In the low country, where the heat is intense and eva- poration proportionate, they derive httle of their supply from springs ; and the passing showers which fall scarcely more than replace the moisture drawn by the sun from the parched and thirsty soil. Hence in the plains there are comparatively few rivulets or running streams ; the rivers there flow in almost sohtaiy hues to the sea ; and the beds of their minor affluents serve only to conduct to them the tor- rents which descend at the change of each monsoon, their channels at other times being exhausted and dry. But in their course through the hills, and the broken ground at their base, they are supphed by numerous feeders, which convey to them the frequent showers that fall in these liigh altitudes. Hence their tracks are through some of the noblest scenery in the world ; rushing through ravines and glens, and falhng over precipitous rocks in the depths of wooded valleys, Cn.vr. I.] KIVEKS. 41 they exhibit a succession of rapids, cataracts, and torrents, unsurpassed in magnificence and beauty. On reaching tlie plains, tlie bokhiess of their march and the graceful outline of thek sweep are indicative of the little obstruc- tion opposed by the sandy and porous soil through which they flow. Throughout their entire course dense forests shade their banks, and, as they approach the sea, tama- risks and over-archino- mangroves mark where tliek^ waters mingle with the tide. Of all the Ceylon rivers, the most important by far is the Mahawelli-ganga — the Ganges of Ptolemy — ■ which, rising in the south near Adam's Peak, traverses more than one-tlurd of the mountain zone ^, drains up- wards of four thousand square miles, and flows into the sea by a number of branches, near the noble harbour of Trincomalie. The following table gives a comparative view of the magnitude of the rivers that rise in the hills, and of the extent of the low country traversed by each of them : — Square Miles Square Miles Length of Embouchure. drained in drained in the Course of Mountain low Country, the main Maliawelli-gauga . Zone. about btream. uear Trincoraalie . 1782 2300 134 Kiriude .... at Mahagan ." . . 34 300 62 Wellawey near Hambangtotte 263 500 69 Neivalle .... at Matiu-a . . . 64 200 42 (Three Rivers) . . near Tangalle . . 56 200 Gindura .... near Galle . . . 189 200 59 Kalu-oya .... at Caltura . . . 841 300 72 Kalany .... Colombo .... G92 200 84 The Kaymel or Ma- haoya .... uear Xegombo . . 253 200 68 Dederoo-oya . . . near Chilaw . . . 38 700 70 4212 5100 In addition to these, there are a number of large rivers wdiich belong entirely to the plains in the northern and south-eastern portions of the island, the principal ^ See ante, p. 12, for a definition of what constitutes the '' moimtiun zone" of Ceylon. 42 PHYSICAL GEOGRAPHY. [Part I. of wliicli are the Arive and the Moderegam, which flow into the Gnlf of Manaar ; the Kala-oya and the Kanda- lady, which empty themselves into the Bay of Calpentyn ; the Maniek or Kattragam, and the Koombookgam, oppo- site to the Little Bass I'ocks ; and the ISTaveloor, the Chadawak, and Arookgam, south of Batticaloa. The extent of country drained by these latter streams is little short of thirteen thousand square miles. Very few of the rivers of Ceylon are navigable, and these only by canoes and flat-bottomed paddy boats, which ascend some of the largest for short distances, till impeded by the rapids, occasioned by rocks in the lowest range of the hills. In this way the Niwalle at Matura can be ascended for about fifteen miles, as far as Wellehara ; the Kalu-ganga can be traversed from Cal- tura to Eatnapoora ; the Bentotte river for sixteen miles to Pittagalla ; and the Kalany from Colombo to the foot of the mountains near Ambogammoa. The Maha- welh-ganga is navigable from Tiincomahe to within a short distance of Kanda^ ; and many of the lesser streams, the Kirinde and WeUawey in the south, and the Kaymel, the Dedroo-oya, and the Aripo river on the west of the island, are used for short distances by boats. All these streams are hable, during the fury of the monsoons, to be surcharged with rain till they over- flow their banks, and spread in wide inundations over the level country. On the subsidence of these waters, the intense heat of the sun acting on the surface they leave deserted, produces a noxious and fatal malaria. Hence the rivers of Ceylon present the curious anomaly, that whilst the tanks and reservoirs of the interior dif- fuse a healthful coolness around, the running water of the rivers is prohfic of fevers ; and in some seasons so deadly is the pestilence that the Malabar coohes, as well ^ For an account of the capabilities j Geocj. Journ. vol. iii. p. 223, and jwst, of tlie INIahawelli-ganga, as regards Vol, II. p. 428. navigation, see Bkooke's Report , Roy. I Chap. L] SAND FORMATION. 43 as the native peasantry, betake tliemselves to precipi- tate flidit.i Few of the larger rivers have been bridged, except those wliicli intersect the great high roads from Point- de-Galle to Colombo, and thence to Kandy. JSTear the sea this has been effected by timber platforms, sustained by piles sufficiently strong to withstand the force of the floods at the change of each monsoon. A bridge of boats connects each side of the Kalany, and on reach- ing the MahawelH-ganga at Peradenia, one of the most pictm'esque structures on the island is a noble bridge of a single arch, 205 feet in span, cliiefly con- structed of satin-wood, and thrown across the river by General Fraser in 1832. On reaching the margin of the sea, an appearance is presented by the outhne of the coast, near the em- bouchm^es of the principal rivers, wliich is very remark- able. It is common to both sides of the island, though it has attained its greatest development on the east. In order to comprehend its formation, it is necessary to observe that Ceylon Hes in the course of the ocean currents in the Bay of Bengal, which run north or south according to the pre- valence of the monsoon, and with greater or less velocity in proportion to its force at particular periods. In the beo-innino; and dur- ing the strength of the north- east monsoon the current sets strongly along the coast of Coromandel to the southward, a portion of it frequently en- CDKRENi' IN THE N.E. MONSOON. ^ It has been remarked along' the Mahawelli-gano-a, a few miles from Kandy, that during the deadly season, after the subsidence of the rains, the jungle fever generally attacks one face of the hills through which it winds, leaving the opposite side en- tirely exempted, as if the poisonous vapour, being carried by the current of air, affected only those aspects against which it directly impinged. 44 PHYSICAL GEOGEAniY. [Part T. tering Palks Bay to tlie north of Ceylon ; bnt the main stream keeping invariably to the east of the island, runs with a velocity of from one and a half to two miles an hour, and after passing the Great Bass, it keeps its course seaward. At other times, after the monsoon has spent its violence, the current is weak, and follows the hue of the land to the Avestward as far as Point-de- Galle, or even to Colombo. In the south-west monsoon the current changes its direc- tion ; and, although it flows steadily to the northward, its action is very irregular and unequal till it reaches the Co- romandel coast, after passing Ceylon. Tliis is accounted for by the obstruction opposed by the headlands of Ceylon, which so intercept the stream that the current, which might otherwise set into the Gulf of Manaar, takes a south-easterly direction by Galle and Donedra Head.^ There being no lakes in Ceylon^, in the still waters of wliicli the rivers might clear themselves of the earthy matter swept along in their rapid course from the hills, they arrive at the beach laden with sand and alluvium, and at their junction with the ocean being met transversely by the gulf-streams, the sand and soil with which they are laden, instead of being carried out to sea, are heaped up in bars along the shores, and these, being augmented by similar deposits held in CURRENT IN THE S.W. MONSOON. ' For an accoimt of the ciuTents of Ceylon, see Horsbukgh's Direc- tions for Sailing to and from the JEast Indies, Sj-c, vol. i. p. 510, 530, 580 ; Keith Johnston's Physical Atlas, plate xiii. p. 50. ^ Pliny alludes to a lake in Ceylon of vast dimensions, but it is clear that his informants must have spoken of one of the huge tanks for the purpose of irrigation. Some of the Mappe-mondes of the Middle Ages place a lake in the middle of the island, with a city inhabited by astrologers ; but they have merely reproduced the error of earlier geo- gTaphers. (Santakem, C'osnio(/, tom, iii. p. 336.) ClIAP. I.] SAND FORMATIOX. 45 suspension by tlie currents, soon extend to north and south, and force the rivers to flow behind them in search of a new outlet. These formations once commenced, their groAvth pro- ceeds with rapidity, more especially on the east side of the island ; as" the southern current in skirting the Coromandel coast brings with it quantities of sand, which it deposits, in tranquil weather, and this being carried by the wind is piled in heaps from Point Pedro to Hambangtotte. Hence at the latter point hills are formed of such height and dimensions, that it is often necessary to remove buildings out of their hue of en- croachment.^ At the mouths of the rivers the bars thus created generally foUow the direction of the current, and the material deposited being dried and partiaUy consohdated in the intervals between the tides, long embankments are graduaUy raised, be- hind which the rivers flow for con- siderable distances before entering the sea. Occasionally these embouchures become closed by the accumulations without, and the pent-up water as- sumes the appearance of a still canal, more or less broad according to the level of the beach, and extending for miles along the coast, between the mainland and the new formations. But when swollen by the rains, if not as- sisted by ai'tificial outlets to escape, they burst new openings for them- selves, and not unfrequently they leave their ancient channels converted into shallow lagoons without any visible exit. Examples of these forma- ^ This is occasioned by the waste of the banks further north during the violence of the N. E. monsoon ; and the sand; being carried south by the cm-rent, is intercepted by the head- land at Hambangtotte and thrown up these hills as described. 46 PHYSICAL GEOGRAPHY. [Part I. tions present themselves on tlie east side of Ceylon at Nilla-velle, Batticaloa, and a number of other places north and south of Trincomahe. On the west coast embankments of this kind, although frequent are less conspicuous than on the east, owing chiefly to the comparative weakness of the cmTcnt. For six months in the year during the north-east mon- soon that side of the island is exempt from a current in any direction, and for the remaining six, the current from the south not only rarely affects the Gulf of Manaar, but as it flows out of the Indian Ocean it brings no earthy deposits. In addition to this, the surf durins; the soutli-west monsoon rolls with such turbulence on the level beach between Colombo and Point-de-Galle, as in a great degree to disperse the accumulations of sand brought down by the rivers, or heaped up by the tide, when the wind is off the land. Still, many of the rivers are thrown back by embankments, and after forming tortuous lakes flow for a long distance paraUel to the shore, before finding an escape for their waters. Examples of this occur at Pantura, to the south of Colombo, and at Negombo, Chilaw, and elsewhere to the north of it. In process of time these banks of sand' become GOBBS" ON THE W. COAST. ^ In the voyages of Tlie Two Maho7net(tns, the unique MS. of which dates ahout A.D. 851, and is now in the Bibliotheque Eoyale at Paris, Abou-zeyd, one of its authors, describes the "Gobbs" of Ceylon — a word, he says, by which the natives designate the valleys deep and broad which open to the sea. " En face de cette lie il y a de vastes Gohh, mot par lequel on designe une vallee, quand elle est a la fois longue et large, et qu'elle debouche dans la mer. Les navigateurs emploient, pour ti'aver- ser le gobb appele ' Gobb de Se- rendib,' deux niois et nieme davant- age, passant a travers des hois et des jardins, au milieu d'uue temperature nioyenne." — Reinatjd, Voyayes faits par les Arabes, vol. i. p. 129. Chap. I.] SAND FORMATION, 47 covered with vegetation ; herbaceous plants, shrubs, and finally trees pecuhar to sahne soils make their ap- A misappreliension of this passage has been achiiitted into the English Aversion of the Vogayes of the two 3Iahometans which is published in PiNKERTOX's Collections of Voyages and Travels, vol. iii. ; the translator having treated gobb as a term ap- plicable to valleys in general. " Cey- lon," he says, " contains valleys of gi-eat lenglh, which extend to the sea, and here travellers repair for two months or more, in which one is called Gobb Serendib, allui-ed by the beauty of the scenery, chequered with groves and plains, water and meadows, and blessed by a balmy air. The valley opens to the sea, and is transcendently pleasant. ' ' — Pixkek- TOx's Voyages, vol. vii. p. 218. But a passage in Edrisi, while it agi-ees with the tei-ms of Abou-zeyd, explains at the same time that these gobbs were not valleys converted into gardens, to which the seamen resorted for pleasiu'e to spend two or three months, but the embouchures of rivers flowing between banks, covered with gardens and forests, into which mariners were accustomed to conduct their vessels for more secure na^dgation, and in which they were subjected to detention for the period stated. The passage is as follows in Jaubert's translation of Edi'isi, torn. i. p. 73 : — " Cette ile (Serendib) depend des ten-es de I'Inde ; ainsi que les vallees (in orig. aghbab) par lesquelles se dechargent les rivieres, et qu'on nomme ' Vallees de Serendib.' Les navires y mo nil- lent, et les navigateiu's y passent un mois ou deux dans I'abondance et dans les plaisirs." It is observable that Ptolemy, in enumerating the ports and harbom-s of Ceylon, maintains a distinction between the ordinary bays, koXttoc, of which he specifies two coiTespond- ing to those of Colombo and Trin- comalie, and the shallower inden- tations, \iui)i; of which he enumerates five, the positions of which go far to identifv them with the remarkable estuaries or gobbs, on the eastern and western coast between Batticaloa and Calpentjni. To the present day these latter gulfs are navigable for small craft. On the eastern side of the island one of them fonns the harbour of Bat- ticaloa, and on the western those of Chilaw tmd Negombo are bays of this class. Through the latter a con- tinuous navigation has been com- pleted by means of short connecting- canals, and a ti-affic is maintained during the south-west monsoon, fi-oui Caltura to the north of Chilaw, a distance of upwards of eighty miles, by means of craft which navigate these shallow channels. These naiTOw passages conform in every particidar to the description given by Abou-zeyd and Edrisi : they run through a succession of woods and gardens ; and as a leading wind is indispensable for their navigation, the period named by the Arabian geogxaphers for their passage is per- haps not excessive dm-ing calms or adverse winds. An article on the meaning of the word gobb will be found in the Journal Asiatiqite for September, 1844 ; but it does not exhibit clearly the veiy peculiar featiu'es of these openings. It is contained in an ex- ti-act from the work on India of Albthouxi, a contemporary of Avi- cenna, who was bom in the valley of the Indus. — ^' Un golfe (gobb) est comme une encoigiiure et un detom' que fait la mer en penetrant dans le continens : les navires u'y sont pas sans peril particulierement a I'egard du flux et reflux." — Extrait de Vour- rage frALBYEorxi sur Vlnde ; Frag- viens Arabes et Persons, relatifs a rinde, recueilles par M. RElXAri) ; Journ. Asiat., Septenibre et Octobre, 1844, p. 261. In the Tm-kish nautical work of Sedi Axi Chelebi, the 3Iohit, wi'itten about A.D. 1550, which con- tains direcrions for sailors navigating the eastern seas, the author alludes to the gobbhas on the coast of Ar- 48 PHYSICAL GEOGRAPHY. [Part T. pearaiice in succession, and as these decay, tlieir de- composition generates a sufficiency of soil to sustain continued vegetation. The process of this conversion may be seen in all its stages at various points along the coast of Ceylon. The margin of land nearest to the water is first taken possession of by a series of httoral plants, which apparently reqmre a large quantity of salt to sustain thek vegetation. These at times are intermixed with others, wliich, though found further inland, yet flourish in perfection on the shore. On the northern and north-western coasts the glass worts ' and salt worts ^ are the first to appear on the newly raised banks, and being provided with penetrating roots, a breakwater is thus early secured, and the drier sand above becomes occupied with creeping plants wliich in theu" turn afford shelter to a third and erect class. The Goat's-foot Ipomoea^, which appears to encircle the world, abounds on these shores, covering the surface to the water's edge with its procumbent branches, which sending down roots from every joint serve to give the bank its first firmness, whilst the profusion of its purple- coloured flowers contrasts strildngly with its dark green foliage. Along with the Ipomoea grow two species of beans* each endowed with a pecuhar facihty for reproduction, thus consohdating the sands into which they strike ; and the moodu-gaeta-kola^ (literally the "jointed sea- shore plant,") with pink flowers and tliick succulent leaves. Another plant which performs an important fimc- racau ; and conscious that tlie term was local and not likely to be under- stood beyond those countries, he adds that " gobbha" means "« (jnlffullof shallows, shoals, and breakers.^' See translation by Von IIasimek, Jomm. Asiat. Soc. Bene/, v. 400. ^ Salicomia Indica. ^ Salsola Indica. 3 Ipomoea pes-caprse. 4 The Mooduawara (Canavalia ob- tusifolia), whose flowers have the fra- grance of the sweet pea, and Dolichos hiteus. ^ Hydrophylax maritima. CuAP. I.] S^\:^D FORMATION. 49 tion in the fertilisation of tliese arid formations, is the Spinifex squarrosus, the " water pink," as it is sometimes called by Europeans. The seeds of tliis plant are con- tained in a cu'ciilar head, composed of a series of spine- like divisions, which radiate from the stalk in all direc- tions, making the diameter of the whole about eight to nine inches. When the seeds are mature, and ready for dispersion, these heads become detached from the plant, and are carried by the wind "with great velocity along the sands, over the smface of which they are impelled on their elastic spines. One of these balls may be followed by the eye for miles as it hurries along the level shore, dropping its seeds as it rolls, Avhich speedily germinate and strike root where they fall. The glo- bidar heads are so buoyant as to float hghtly on the water, and the uppermost spines acting as sails, they are thus carried across narrow estuaries to continue the pro- cess of embanking on newly-formed sand bars. Such an organisation irresistibly suggests the wonderful means ordained by Providence to spread this valuable plant alono; the barren beach to which no seed-devomino; bird ever resorts ; and even the unobservant natives, struck by its singular utihty in resisting the encroachments of the sea, have recorded their admiration by conferring on it the name of Maha-Rawana 7'wwula, — " the great beard of Eawana or Eama." The banks being thus ingeniously protected fi'om the action of the air above, and of the water at their base, other herbaceous plants soon cover them in quick suc- cession, and give the entire surface the first aspect of vegetation. A httle retired above high water are to be found a species of Aristolochia^, the Sayan ^, or Choya^ ^ Aridolochia hractectta. On the sands to the north of Ceylon there is also the A, Indica, which fonns the food of the oreat red and white but- tei"fly {Papilio Hector). ^ Hedyotis untbelkda. A very cu- rious account of the Dntr'h policy in VOL. I. E relation to Choya dye will be found in a_ paper On the Vef/etoble Produc- tions of Ceylon, by W. C. Oxdaat- JIE, in the Ceylon Calendar for 1853. See also Beexolacci, B. iii. p. 270. 50 PHYSICAL GEOGEAPHY. [Part I. the roots of wliicli are the Indian Madder (in which, under the Dutch Government, some tribes in the Wanny paid tlieu- tribute) ; the gorgeous Gloriosa superha^ the beautiful Vistnu-karandi ^ with its profusion of bhie flowers, which remind one of tlie Enghsh " Forget- me-not," and the thickly-matted verdure of the Hir- amana-cloetta^^ so well adapted for imparting con- sistency to the soil. In the next stage low shrubs make their appearance, their seeds being drifted by the waves and wind, and taldng ready root wherever they happen to rest. The foremost of these are the Sca3- volas^ and Screw Pines'^, wliich grow luxuriantly witliin tlie actual wash of the tide, while behind them rises a dense growth of peculiar plants, each distin- guished by the Singhalese by the prefix of " Moodu," to indicate its partiahty for the sea.^ Where the sand in the lagoons and estuaries is more or less mingled with the alluvium brought down by the rivers, there are plants of another class which are equally characteristic. Amongst these the Mangroves ^ take the first place in respect to their mass of vege- tation ; then follow the Belh-patta ^ and Suriya- gaha ^, with their large hibiscus-like flowers ; the Ta- marisks ^ ; tlie Acanthus ^'^, with its beautiful blue petals and hoUy-hke leaves ; the Water Coco-nut ^^ ; the ^giceras and Hernandia ^'•'', Avitli its sonorous fruits ; while the dry sands above are taken possession of by the Acacias, Salvadora Persica (the true mus- ^ Evolvulus alsinoides. ^ Lippia nodiflora. ^ Sooevola takkada and S. Koenigii. ^ Pandanxis odoratissimus. ^ Moodu-kaduru (Oc/irosiajxirvi/lo- rci) ; 3Ioodu-cohhe (Ornifrophe ser- ratci) ; 3Ioodu-7mtrimf/a (Sophora to- inentosa), Sec. &c. Amongst these marine shrubs the Nil-picha (Gucf- farda spceiosa), with its white and delightfully fragTant flowers, is a con- spicuous object on some parts of the sea - shore between Colombo and Point-de-Galle. 6 Two species of Rhizophora, two of Bnic/mera, and one of CeriojiS. ^ Paritium tilliaceum. ^ Thespesia popidnea. ^ Tamarix Indica. ^° Dilivaria ilicifolia. ^1 Nipa fruticans. " Hernandia sonora. Chap. I.] SAND FORMATION. 5\ tard-tree of Scripture^, which here attains a height of forty feet), Ixoras, and the numerous family of Cassias. Lastly, after a sufficiency of earth has been formed by the decay of frequent successions of their less important predecessors, the ground becomes covered by trees of ampler magnitude, most of which are found upon the adjacent shores of the mainland — the Margoza^ fi^om whose seed the natives express a valuable oil ; the Timbiri ^, mth the glutinous nuts with which the fisher- men " bark " their nets ; the Cashu-nut ^ ; the Palu ^, one of the most valuable timber trees of the Northern Pro- vinces ; and the Wood-apple ^, whose fruit is regarded by the Singhalese as a specific for dysentery. But the most important fact connected \vith these recently formed portions of land, is then- extraordinary suitabihty for the growth of the coco-nut, wliich re- quires the sea-ak (and in Ceylon at least appears never to attain its fidl luxuriance when removed to any con- siderable distance from it)^, and which, at the same time, ^ The identification of this ti-ee with the mustard-tree alluded to by our Sa^dour is an interesting fact. The Greek term aiva-mc, which occurs Matt. xiii. 31, and elsewhere, is the name given to mustard; for which the Arabic equivalent is charclul or khardal, and the Sp'iac hhardalo. Tlie same name is applied at the present day to a ti-ee which gi-ows freely in the neighbourhood of Jeru- salem, and generally tliroughout Palestine ; the seeds of which have an aromatic pungency, which enables them to be used instead of the ordi- nary mustard (Situipis niyra) ; be- sides which, its structure presents all the essentials to sustain the illus- tration sought to be established in the parable, some of which are want- ing or dubious in the common plant. It has a veiy small seed ; it may be sown in a garden : it gTows into an " herb," and eventually " becometh a tree ; so that the birds of the air come and lodge in the branches there- of." "With every allowance for tlie extremest development attainable by cidture, it must be felt that the di- mensions of the domestic sinajns scarcely j ustify the last illusti-ation ; besides which it is an annual, and caimot possibly be classed as a " tree." The khardal gTOws abundantly in SjTia : it was found in Egj^jt by Sir Gardner Wilkinson ; in Arabia by Bove ; on the Indus by Sir Alex- ander Bm-nes ; and throughout the north-west of India it bears the name of kharjal. Combining all these facts, Dr. Royle, in an erudite paper, has sho^ai demonstrative reasons for believing that the Sal- vadora Persica, the " kharjal " of Hin- dostan, is the "khardal" of Arabia, the " chardid " of the Talmud, and the "mustard-tree " of the parable. ^ Azadirachta Indica. ^ DiospATos glutiuosa. * Anacardimu occidentalo. * Mimusops hexandra. ^ iEgle marmelos. "' Coco-nuts are cultivated at mo- derate elevations in the mountain E 2 52 PHYSICAL GEOGRAPHY. [Part I. requires a liglit and sandy soil, and tlie constant presence of water in large quantities. All these essentials are combined in the sea-belts here described, lying as they do between the ocean on the one side and the fresh-water lakes formed by the great rivers on the other, thus presenting every requisite of soil and surface. It is {ilong a sand formation of this description, about forty miles long and from one to three miles broad, that tluiving coco-nut plantations have been recently com- menced at Batticaloa. At Calpentyn, on the western coast, a like formation has been taken advantage of for the same purpose. At Jaffna somewhat similar pecu- harities of soil and locality have been seized on for this promising cultivation ; and, generally, along the whole seaborde of Ceylon to the south and west, the shore for the breadth of one or two miles exhibits almost con- tinuous groves of coco-nut palms. Harhours. — With the exception of the estuaries above alluded to, chiefly in the northern section of the island, the outline of the coast is interrupted by few sinuosities. There are no extensive inlets, or bays, and only two harbours — that of Point-de-Galle, which, in addition to being incommodious and small, is obstructed by coral rocks, reefs of which have been upreared to the surface, and render the entrance critical to strange ships ^; and the magnificent basin of Trincomahe, which, in extent, security, and beauty, is unsurpassed by any haven in the world. Tides. — The variation of the tides is so shght that navigation is almost unaffected by it. The ordinary villages of the interior ; but the fruit bears no comparison, in number, size, or weight, with that produced in the lowlands, and near the sea, on either side of the island. ^ Owing to the obstructions at its entrance, Galle is extremely difficult of access in particidar winds. In 1857 it was announced in the Cvhmho Exainincr that " the fine ship the ' Black Eagle ' was blown out of Galle Roads the other day, with the pilot on board, whilst the captain was tem- porarily engaged on shore ; and as she was not able to beat in again, she made for Trincomalie, where she has been lying for a fortnight. Such an event is by no means unprecedented at Galle." — EAaininer, 29 Sept. 1857. Chap. I.] POPULATION. rise and fall is from 18 to 24 inches, with an increase of about a third at spring tides. High water is later on the eastern than on the western coast ; occurring, on full and new moon, a httle after eleven o'clock at Adam's Bridge, about 1 o'clock at Colombo, and 1.25 at GaUe, whilst it attains its greatest elevation between 5 and 6 o'clock in the harbour of Trincomahe. Red infusoria. — On both sides of the island (but most frequently at Colombo), during the south-west monsoon, a broad expanse of the sea assumes a red tinge, considerably brighter than brick-dust ; and this is confined to a space so distinct that a hne seems to separate it from the green water which flows on either side. Observing that the whole area changed its position without parting with any portion of its colouring, I had some of the water brought on shore, and, on examination with the microscope, it proved to be filled with infusoria, probably similar to those which have been noticed near the shores of South America, and whose abundance has imparted a name to the " Vermilion Sea" off the coast of Cahfornia. The Population of Ceylon, of all races, was, in 1857, 1,097,975 ; but this was exclusive of the mihtary and their famihes, both Europeans and Malays, which together amounted to 5,430 ; and also of ahens and other casual strangers, forming about 25,000 more. The particulars are as follow : — Provinces. Whites. Coloured. Total. Population to the sq. mile. Males. Females. Males. Females. Males. Females. Western N. Western Southern . Eastern Northern . Central . . 1,293 21 238 201 387 468 1,246 11 241 143 362 204 293,409 100,807 156,900 .39,923 153,062 143,472 259,106 96,386 149,649 35,531 148,678 116,237 294,702 100,828 157,138 40,124 153,449 143,940 260,352 96,397 149,890 35,674 149,040 116,441 146-59 59-93 143-72 16-08 .55.85 52-57 2,608 2,207 887,573 805,587 890,181 807,794 69-73 E 3 54 THYSICAL GEOGRAPHY. [rART I. CHAP. 11. CLIMATE. — HEALTH AND DISEASE. The climate of Ceylon, from its plij^sical configuration and insular detachment, contrasts favom^ably with that of the great Indian peninsula. Owing to the moderate dimensions of the island, the elevation of its mountains, the very short space during which the sun is passing over it^ in his regression from or approach to the sol- stices, and its surrounding seas being nearly uniform in temperature, it is exempt from the extremes of heating and coohng to which the neighbouring con- tinent of India is exposed. From the same causes it is subjected more uniformly to the genial influences of the trade winds that blow over the Indian Ocean and the Bay of Bengal. The island is seldom visited by hurricanes^, or swept by typhoons, and the breeze, unlike the hot and arid winds of Coromandel and the Dekkan, is always more or less refi'eshing. The range of the thermometer exhibits no violent changes, and never indicates a tem- perature insupportably high. The mean on an annual average scarcely exceeds 80° at Colombo, though in 1 In his approach to the northern solstice, the snn, having passed the equator on the 21st of March, reaches the south of Ceylon ahout the 5th of April, and ten days later is vertical over Point Pedro, the northern ex- tremity of the island. On his return he is again over Point Pedro about the 27th of August, and passes southvrard over Dondera Head about the 7th of September. " The exception to the exemption of Ceylon fi"om hun-icanes is the occasional occiuTence of a cyclone extending its circle till the verge has sometimes touched Batticaloa, on the south-eastern extremity of the island, causing damage to vegetation and buildings. Such an event is, how- ever, exceedingly rare. On the 7th of January, 1805, H.M.S. "Sheerness"' and two others were driven on shore in a hurricane at Trinconialie. CiiAP. II.] CLIMATE. 55 exceptional years it has risen to 86°. But at no period of the day are dangerous results to be apprehended from exposure to the sun ; and except during parts of the months of March and April, there is no season when moderate exercise is not practicable and agreeable. For half the year, from October to May, the prevaihng winds are from the north-east, and durino; the remainino- months the south-west monsoon blows steadily fi-om the great Indian Ocean. The former, aflfected by the wintry chills of the vast tracts of land which it traverses before crossing the Bay of Bengal, is subject to many local variations and intervals of calm. But the latter, after the first violence of its outset is abated, becomes nearly uniform throughout the period of its prevalence, and presents the character of an on-shore breeze extending over a prodigious expanse of sea and land, and exert- ing a powerful influence along the regions of southern Asia. In Ceylon the proverbial fickleness of the mnds, and the uncertainty which characterises the seasons in north- ern chmates, is comparatively unknown ; and the occur- rence of changes or rain may be anticipated with con- siderable accuracy in any month of a coming year. There are, of course, abnormal seasons with higher ranges of temperature, hea\ier rains, or droughts of longer continuance, but such extremes are exceptional and rare. Great atmospheric changes occur only at two opposite periods of the year, and so gradual is their approach that the chmate is monotonous, and one longs to see again " the faUing of the leaf " to diversify the sameness of perennial verdure. The fine is faint which divides the seasons. No period of the year is divested of its seed-time and its harvest in some part of the island ; and fruit hangs ripe on the same branches that are garlanded with opening buds. But as every plant has its own period for the production of its flowers and fruit, each month is characterised by its own peculiar flora. E 4 56 PHYSICAL GEOGEAPHY. [Part I. As regards the foliage of the trees, it might be expected that the variety of tints would be wanting which forms the charm of a European landscape, and that all nature would wear one mantle of unchanging green. But it has been remarked by a tasteful observer^ that such is far from the fact, and though in Ceylon there is no revolution of seasons, the change of leaf on the same plant exhibits colours as bright as those which tinge the autumnal woods of America. It is not the decaying leaves, but the fresh shoots, which exhibit these brightened colours, the older are still vividly green, whilst the young are bm^sting forth ; and the extremities of the branches present tufts of pale yellow, pink, crimson, and purple, which give them at a distance the appearance of a cluster of flowers.^ A notice of the variations exliibited by the weather at Colombo may serve as an index to the atmospheric condition of the rest of the island, except in those por- tions (such as the mountains of the interior, and the low plains of the northern extremity) wliich exliibit modifications of temperature and moisture incident to local pecuharities. January. — At the opening of the year, the north-east monsoon, which sets in two months previously, is nearly in mid career. This wind, issuing from the chill north and robbed of its aqueous va- pour in passing over the elevated mountain regions on the confines of China and Thibet, sweeps across the Bay of Bengal, whence its lowest strata imbibe a quan- WiiKl N.E. Temperature, 24 hours : Mean greatest 85-6° Mean least . . 69-2° Rain (inches) . . 31 1 Prof. Harvey, Trin. Coll. Dublin. ^ Some few trees, such as the margosa (Azadirachta Indica), the coimtry almond (Terminalia catap- 2Ht), and others, are deciduous, and part with their leaves. The cinna- mon shoots forth in all shades from bright yellow to dark crimson. The maella (OIilv Zeylanicci) has always a copper colour; and the ironwood trees of the interior have a perfect blaze of young crimson leaves, as brilliant as flowers. The lo\'i-lovi {Flacourtia inennis) has the same peculiarity; while the large bracts of the mussfenda {Bliissccnda fron- dosci) attract the notice of Europeans for their singular whiteness. CiiAP. ir.] CLIMATE. tity of moisture, moderate in amount, yet still leavino- the great mass of air far below saturation. Hence it reaches Ceylon comparatively dry, and its general effects are parching and disagreeable. This character is in- creased as the sun recedes towards its most southern dechnation, and the wind acquires a more direct draught from the north; passing over the Indian peninsula and ahnost totally divested of humidity, it blows down the western coast of the island, and is known there by the name of the "along-shore-wind." For a time its influence is uncomfortable and its effects injurious both to health and vegetation : it warps and rends furniture, dries up the surface of the earth, and mthers the dehcate verdure wliich had sprung up during the prevalence of the pre- vious rains. These characteristics, however, subside towards the end of the month, when the wind becomes somewhat variable with a westerly tendency and occa- sional showers ; and the heat of the day is then partially compensated by the greater freshness of the nights. The fall of rain within the month scarcely exceeds three inches. February is dry and hot dming the day, but the nights are cloudless and cool, and the moon- light singularly agreeable. Eain is rare, and when it occm^s it falls in dashes, succeeded by damp and sultry calms. The Avind is unsteady and shifts from north-east to north-west, sometimes faihng entu'ely between noon and twihght. The quantity of rain is less than in January, and the difference of temperature between day and night is frequently as great as 15° or 20°.^ Wind KE. Temperature, 24 houi's : Mean greatest . 89° Mean least . .71° Ilain (inches) . . 2'1 ' Dr. Macvicae, in a paper in the Ceylon Miscellamj , July, 1843, re- corded tlie results of some experi- ments, made near Colombo, as to the daily variation of temperature and its effects on cultivation, from wliich it appeared that a register thermo- meter, exposed on a tuft of grass in the cinnamon garden in a clear night and under the open sky, on the 2nd of Januaiy, 1841, showed in the morn- ing that it had been so low as 52°, and when laid on the gToimd in the same place in the smisliine on the following day, it rose to upwards of 140° Fahr. 58 PHYSICAL GEOGRAPHY. [Part I. March. — In March the heat continues to increase, Wind N.E. to N.w. the earth receiving more warmth than Temperature, 24 hours : it racliatcs or parts with bv cvapora- Mean greatest 877° . ■■■ •^ J- Mean least . . 73-1° tion. The day becomes oppressive, Rain (inches) ... 2-1 ^^^Q nights unrcfreshing, the grass is withered and brown, the earth hard and cleft, the lakes shrunk to shallows, and the rivers evaporated to dry- ness. Eiu-opeans now escape from the low country, and betake themselves to the shade of the forests adjoining the coffee-plantations in the hills ; or to the still higher sanatarium of Neuera-elha, nearly the loftiest plateau in the mountains of the Kandyan range. The winds, when any are perceptible, are faint and unsteady with a still increasing westerly tendency, partial showers sometimes fall, and thunder befjins to mutter towards sunset. At the close of the month, the mean temperature will be found to have advanced about a degree, but the sensible temperatiu-e and the force of the sun's rays are felt in a still more perceptible proportion. April is by far the most oppressive portion of the year Wind N.w. to s.w. ^^^ tliosc wlio remain at the sea-level Temperature, 24 hours: of the island.' The temperature con- Mean greatest . 88-7° . . • i • Mean least . . . 73-6° tmucs to risc as tlic suu 111 liis northcm Ram (mches) ... 7-4 progress passcs Vertically over the island. A mirage fills the hollows with mimic water ; the heat ill close apartments becomes extreme, and every hvino; creature flies to the shade from the suffocatino; glare of mid-day. At length the sea exhibits symptoms of an approaching change, a ground swell sets in from the west, and the breeze towards sunset brings clouds and grateful showers. At the end of the month the mean temperature attains its greatest height during the year, being about 88° in the day, and 10° lower at night. May is signahsed by the great event of the change Wind N.w. to s. w. ^f the mousooii, and all the grand Temperature, 24 hours : phenomena wliicli accompaiiv its ap- Mean greatest , 87'2° ^ , -l ./ i Mean least . . 729° proacll. Rain (inches) . .13-3 j^ -g (_"[ifficult for aiiy ouc who has not CiiAF. II.] CLIMATE. 59 resided in the tropics to compreliend the feeUiig of en- joyment which accompanies these periodical commo- tions of the atmosphere ; in Europe they would be fraught with annoyance, but in Ceylon they are wel- comed with a rehsh proportionate to the monotony they dispel. Long before the wished-for period arrives, the ver- dure produced by the previous rains becomes almost obhterated by the burning droughts of March and April. The deciduous trees shed their foHage, the plants cease to put forth fi^esh leaves, and all vegetable hfe languishes under the unwholesome heat. The grass withers on the baked and cloven earth, and red dust settles on the branches and thirsty brushwood. The insects, deprived of their accustomed food, disappear underground or hide beneath the decaying bark ; the water-beetles bury themselves in the hardened mud of the pools, and the helices retire into the crevices of the stones or the hollows amongst the roots of the trees, closing the apertures of theu* shells with the hybernating epipliragm. Butterflies are no longer seen hovering over the flowers, the birds appear fewer and less joyous, and the wild animals and crocodiles, driven by the drought from their accustomed retreats, wander through the jungle, and even venture to approacli the village wells in search of water. Man equally languishes under the general exhaustion, ordinary exertion becomes distasteftd, and the native Singhalese, although inured to the chmate, move mth lassitude and reluctance. Meanwhile the ak becomes loaded to saturation with aqueous vapour drawn up by the augmented force of evaporation acting vigorously over land and sea : the sky, instead of its brilhant blue, assumes the sullen tint of lead, and not a breath disturbs the motionless rest of the clouds that hang on the lower range of hills. At length, generally about the middle of the month, but frequently earher, the sultry suspense is broken by the arrival of the wished-for change. The sun has by 60 PHYSICAL GEOGRAPHY. fPART I. tMs time nearly attained liis greatest northern declina- tion, and created a torrid heat throughout the lands of southern Asia and the peninsula of India. The air, lightened by its high temperature and such watery vapour as it may contain, rises into loftier regions and is replaced by indraughts from the neighbouring sea, and thus a tendency is gradually given to the forma- tion of a current bringing up from the south the warm humid ah^ of the equator. The wind, therefore, which reaches Ceylon comes laden with moisture, taken up in its passage across the great Indian Ocean. As the monsoon draws near, the days become more overcast and hot, banks of clouds rise over the ocean to the west, and in the pecuhar twilight the eye is attracted by the unusual whiteness of the sea-birds that sweep along the strand to seize the objects flung on shore by the rising sm"f. At last the sudden lio-htnin2;s flash amonor the hiUs and sheet through the clouds that overhang the sea^, and with a crash of thunder the monsoon bursts over the thn-sty land, not in showers or partial torrents, but in a wide deluge, that in the course of a few hom^s overtops the river banks and spreads in inundations over every level plain. All the phenomena of this explosion are stupendous : thunder, as we are accustomed to be awed by it in Europe, affords but the faintest idea of its overpowering grandeur in Ceylon, and its subhmity is infinitely increased as it is faintly heard from the shore, re- sounding through night and darkness over the gloomy sea. The hghtning, when it touches the earth where ^ The lightnings of Ceylon are so remarkable, that in the middle ages they were as well known to the Arabian seamen, who coasted the island on their way to China, as in later times the storms that infested the Cape of Good Hope were familiar to early navigators of Portngal. In the Mohit of SiDi Ali Ciielebi, translated by Von Hammer, it is stated that to seamen, sailing from Diu to Malacca, " the sign of Ceylon being near is continual lightning, h& it accompanied by raiii or without rain ; so that 'the lightning of Ceylon' is proverbial for a liar ! " — Journ. Asiat. Soc. Beiuf. v. 406. Chap. II.] CLIMATE. 61 it is covered with the descending torrent, flaslies into it and disappears instantaneously ; but, when it strikes a diier surface, in seeking better conductors, it often opens a hollow like that formed by the explosion of a shell, and frequently leaves behind it traces of vitri- fication.^ In Ceylon, however, occurrences of this kind are rare, and accidents are seldom recorded from light- ihng, probably owing to the profusion of trees, and espe- cially of coco-nut palms, wliich, when drenched with rain, intercept the discharge, and conduct the electric matter to the earth. Tlie rain at these periods excites the astonishment of a European : it descends in almost continuous streams, so close and so dense that the level ground, unable to absorb it sufficiently fast, is covered with one uniform sheet of water, and down the sides of acchvities it rushes in a volume that wears channels in the surface.^ For hours together, the noise of the torrent, as it beats upon the trees and bursts upon the roofs, flowing thence in rivulets along the ground, occa- sions an uproar that drowns the ordinary voice, and renders sleep impossible. This violence, however, seldom lasts more than an hour or two, and gradually abates after intermittent paroxysms, and a serenely clear sky supervenes. For some days, heavy showers continue to fall at intervals 1 See Dakayin's Naturalist'' s Voy- age, cli. iii. for an account of those vitrified siliceous tubes which are fornied by lightning- entering loose sand. Diu'ing a tliiuiderstorm which passed over Galle, on the 16th May, 1854, the fortifications were shaken by lightning, and an extraordinary cavity was opened behind the re- taining wall of the rampart, where a hole, a yard in diameter, was earned into the grovmd to the depth of twenty feet, and two chambers, each six feet in length, branched out on either side at its extremity. - One morning on awaking at Pusilawa, in the hills between Kandy and Neuera-ellia, I was taken to see the effect of a few hours' rain, during the night, on a macadamised road which I had passed the evening be- fore. There was no symptom of a storm at simset, and the morning was briglit and cloudless ; but be- tween midnight and dawn such an inundation had swept the highway that in many places the metal had been washed over the face of the acclivity ; and in one spot where a sudden bend forced the ton-ent to impinge against the bank, it had scooped out an excavation extending to the centre of the high road, thir- teen feet in diameter, and deep enough to hold a carriaue and horses. 62 PHYSICAL GEOGRAPHY. [Part I. in the forenoon ; and the evenings which follow are em- belhshed by sunsets of the most gorgeous splendour, lighting the fragments of clouds that survive the recent storm. June. — The extreme heat of the previous month Wind s.w. becomes modified in June : the winds Temperature, 24 hours: COntUlUC Steadilv tO bloW frOm the Mean greatest .85-8° , , "^ Mean least . . 74-4° soutli-wcst, auci ircquent showcrs, ac- Rain (inches) . . 68 compaiiied by hghtning and thunder, serve still further to diffuse coohiess throughout the atmosphere and verdure over the earth. So instantaneous is the response of Nature to the influence of returning moisture, that, in a single day, and almost between sunset and daAvn, the green hue of reviving vegetation begins to tint the saturated ground. In ponds, from which but a week before the wind blew clouds of sandy dust, the peasantry are now to be seen catchino; the re-animated fish ; and tank-shells and water-beetles revive and wander over the submerged sedges. The electricity of the air stimulates the vege- tation of the trees ; and scarce a week will elapse till the plants are covered with the larvaa of butterflies, the forest murmuring with the hum of insects, and the air harmonious with the voice of birds. The extent to which the temperatm^e is reduced, after the first burst of the monsoon, is not to be appre- ciated by the indications of the thermometer alone, but is rendered still more sensible by the altered density of the ah", the drier state of which is favoui'able to eva- poration, whilst the mcrease of its movement bring- ing it more rapidly in contact with the human body, heat is more readily carried off, and the coolness of the surface proportionally increased. It occasionally happens durmg the month of June that the westerly wind acquires considerable strength, sometimes amount- ing to a moderate gale. The fishermen, at this period, seldom put to sea: their canoes are drawn far up in lines upon the shore, and vessels riding in the roads of Chap. II.] CLIMATE. 63 Colombo are often driven from their anchorage and stranded on the beach. July resembles, to a great extent, the month which Wind S.W. precedes it, except that, in all parti- Temperature, 24 hours: culars, the season is more moderate. Mean greatest . 84'8° , i r» ^ • Mean least . . 74-9° sliowcrs are Icss ircqucnt, there is Rain (inches) . . 34 j^gg ^^.-^^^i^ ^^-^^ ^^^^ absolutC heat. August. — In August the weather is charming, not- ^jjj^ g ^y witlistanding a shght increase of heat. Temperature, 24 hours: owinc; to diminished evaporation ; and Mean Teatest . 84 9° . . Mean feast . '. 1A-1° tllC SUU being UOW OU itS rctUHl tO tllC Ram (mches) . . 2 8 equator, its powcr is felt in greater force on full exposure to its influence. September. — The same atmospheric condition con- wind s w tinues throughout September, but to- Temperature, 24 hours: wards its closc the sca-brccze bccomcs Mean greatest . 84-9° , , i i i i • , i Mean least . . 74-8° Unstcacly aUCl ClOUClS begUl to col- Ram (mches) . . 5-2 \qq{^^ Symptomatic of the approacliing change to the north-east monsoon. The nights are always clear and dehghtfuQy cool. Eain is sometimes abundant. October is more unsettled, the wind veering towards Wind S.W. and N.E. ^^^^ uorth, witli pretty frequent rain ; Temperature, 24 hours :^ and aS tllC SUU is UOW far tO Mean lea*st . *. 73-3° tllC SOUtllWard, tllC llCat COUtinUCS tO Rain (inches) . . 11-2 dcclinC November sees the close of the south-west monsoon, Wind N E ^^^^ ^^^ arrival of the north-eastern. Temperature, 24 hours: Ii;i^ the Carlv part of tllC mOllth the Mean greatest . 86-3° • -i • • , ^ ■ , c ,^ Mean least . . 71-5° Wind visits nearly every point 01 the Ram (mches) . . 10-7 compass, but sliows a marked predi- lection for the nortli, generally veering from N.E. at night and early morning, to N.W. at noon ; calms are frequent and precede gentle showers, and clouds form round the lower range of hills. By degrees as the sun advances in its southern dechnation, and warms the lower half of the great African continent, the current of heated air ascending from the equatorial belt leaves 64 PHYSICAL GEOGRAPHY. [Part I. Wind N.E. Temperature 24 hours: Mean greatest . 85° Mean least . . 70° Rain (inches) . . 4-3 a comparative vacuum, towards which the less rarefied atmospheric fluid is drawn down from the regions north of the tropic, bringing with it the cold and dry winds from the Himalayan Alps, and the lofty ranges of Assam. The great change is heralded as before by oppressive calms, lurid sides, vivid hghtning, bursts of thunder, and tumultuous rain. But at this change of the monsoon the atmospheric disturbance is less striking than in May ; the previous temperature is lower, the moisture of the air is more reduced, and the change is less agreeably perceptible from the southern breeze to the dry and parching wind from the north. December. — In December the sun attains to its greatest southern declination, and the wind setting steadily from the north- east, brings with it light but frequent rains from tlie Bay of Bengal. The thermometer shows a maximum temperature of 85° with a minimum of 70° ; the morning and the afternoon are again enjoyable in the open ah, but at night every lattice that faces the north is cautiously closed against the treacherous " along-shore- wind." Notwithstanding the violence and volume in which the rains have been here described as descending during the paroxysms of the monsoons, the total rain-fall in Ceylon is considerably less than on the continent of India. Throughout Hindustan the annual mean is 11 7 '5 inches, and on some parts on the Malabar coast, upwards of 300 inches have fallen in a single year ^ ; whereas the average in Ceylon rarely exceeds 80, and the highest quantity registered in an exceptional season was 120 inches. The distribution is of course unequal, both as to time and locahties, and in those districts where the ^ At Maliabalesliwav, m the West- ern Gliauts, the annual mean is 254 inches^ and at Uttray MiilLaj^, in Malabar, 263 ; whilst at Bengal it is 209 inches at Sylhet; and 010-3 at Cherraponga. Chap. H.j RAIN. G5 fall is most considerable, the number of rainless days is the greatest.^ An idea may be formed of the deluge that descends in Colombo during the change of the monsoon, from the ftict that out of 72*4 inches, the annual average there, no less than 20*7 inches fall in April and May, and 21-9 in October and November, a quantity one-third greater than the total rain in England throughout an entire year. In one important particular the phenomenon of the Dekkan affords an analogy for that which presents itself in Ceylon. During the south-west monsoon the clouds are driven against the lofty chain of mountains that overhang the western shore of the peninsula, and their condensed vapour descends there in copious showers. The winds, thus early robbed of theu- moistiu-e, carry but little rain to the plains of the interior, and whilst Malabar is saturated by daily showers, the sky of Coro- mandel is clear and serene. In the north-east monsoon a condition the very opposite exists ; the wind that then prevails is much di'ier, and the hills which it encounters being of lower altitude, the rains are carried further towards the interior, and whilst the weather is unsettled and stormy on the eastern shore, the western is compa- ratively exempt, and enjoys a calm and cloudless sky.^ In hke manner the west coast of Ceylon presents a contrast with the east, both in the volume of rain in each of the respective monsoons, and in the influence which the same monsoon exerts simultaneously on the one side of the island and on the other. The greatest ^ The average number of days on which rain fell at Colombo in the years 1882, 1833, 1834, and 1835, was as follows : — Days. In January . . . .3 February . . .4 March .... 6 April . . . .11 May .... 13 June . . . .13 Jiily .... 8 VOL. I. F Days. In iVugust . . 10 September . 14 October . . 17 November . 11 December . 8 Total , _ . 118 ^ The mean of rain is, on the west- ern side of the Dekkan, 80 inches, and on the eastern, 52 -8. 66 rilYSICAL GEOGRAPHY. [Part I. Ill quantity of rain falls on the south-western portion the month of May, when the wind from the Indian Ocean is intercepted, and its moisture condensed by the lofty mountain ranges, surrounding Adam's Peak. The region principally affected by it stretches from Point-de-Galle, as far north as Putlam, and eastward till it includes the ^^. COUOMANDIil,. lOiu. DIAGRAM EXHIBITING THE COMPARATIVE FALL OP RA.IN ON THE SEABORDE OF THE DEKKAN, AND AT COLOMBO. IN THE WESTERN PROVINCE OF. CEYLON. Odg maximuTn at the spring change of the monsoon anticipating a little that on the West coast of India; aui>ther at the autmnnal changi^ corresponding raore esacUy -with that of the East coast. The entire fall through the year Laore equably distributed at Colombo. greater portion of the ancient Kandyan Idngdom. But tlie rains do not reach the opposite vside of the island ; whilst tlie west coast is deluged, the east is sometimes exhausted Avith dryness ; and it not unfrequently happens that dilFerent aspects of the same mountain present at Chap. II.] RAIN. CLIMATE. 67 the same moment tlie opposite extremes of drought and moisture.^ On the east coast, on the other hand, the fall, during the north-east monsoon, is very similar in degree to tliat on the coast of Coromandel, as the mountains are lower and more remote from the sea, the clouds are carried further inland, and it rains simultaneously on both sides of the island, though much less on the west than during the other monsoon. The climate of Galle, as already stated, resembles in its general characteristics that of Colombo, but, being- further to the south, and more equally exposed to the influence of both the monsoons, the temperature is not quite so high ; and, during the cold season, it falls some degrees lower, especially in the evening and early mornino-.^ Kandy^ from its position, shares in the climate of the western coast ; but, from the frequency of the moun- tain showers, and its situation, at an elevation of upwards of sixteen hundred feet above the level of the sea, it enjoys a much cooler temperature. It differs from the low country in one particular, which is very striking — the early period of the day at whicli the maximum heat is attained. This at Colombo is generally between two and three o'clock in the after- noon, whereas at Kandy the thermometer shows the ' Admiral Fitzroy has described_j in his Narrative of the Voyaycs of the Adcodure and Beaf/Ic, tlie sti-ikiug degTce in which this sinmltaneous dissiniihirity of climate is exhibited on opposite sides of the Galapagos Islands ; one aspect exposed to the south being covered with verdure and freshened with moisture, whilst all others are bai-ren and parched. — Vol. ii. p. 502-3. The same state of things exists iu the east and west sides of the I'eruvian Andes, and in the mountains of Patagonia. jVnd no more remarkable example of it exists than iu the island of Socotra, east of the Straits of Bab el INIandelj, the west coast of which, during the north-east monsoon, is destitute of rain and verdure, whilst the eastern side is eni-iched by streams and co- vered by luxuriant pasturage. — Junrii. Asiat. Soc. licmj. vol. iv. p. 141. ^ At Point-de-Galle, in 1854, the number of rainy days was as follows : Davs. r)ny^ Jamuxry . . 12 July . . . 11 February . 7 August . . 21 March . . 10 Si^ptenibor . 1(5 April , . . 12 C )ctober . . 20 May . . . 23 November . 15 June . . . 18 Ueceniber . 13 68 rHYSICAL GEOGRAPHY. [Part I. highest temperature of the day between ten and eleven o'clock in the morning. In the low country, ingenuity has devised so many expedients for defence from the excessive heat of the forenoon, that the languor it induces is chiefly expe- rienced after sunset, and the coolness of the night is insufficient to compensate for the exhaustion of the day ; but, in Kandy, the nights are so cool that it is seldom that warm covering can be altogether dispensed with. In the colder months, the daily range of the thermometer is considerable — approaching 30° ; in the others, it differs httle from 15°. The average mean, however, of each month throughout the year is nearly identical, deviating only a degree from 76°, the mean annual temperature.^ ^ The following Table appeared | able from tbe care taken by Mr. Caley in tlie Colombo Observer, and is valu- | in its preparation ; Analysis of the Climate at Feradenia, from 1851 to 1858 inclusive. Tern perature. Aver- Rainfall. Months. age of Aver- Remarks. Max. Min. Mean. Years Inches. age of Years January . 85-0 52-5 74-06 6 4-04 6 Fine, sunny, heavy dew at night, hot days, and cold nights and mornings. February . 87-75 55-0 75-76 7 1-625 6 Fine, sunny, dewy nights, foggy mornings, days hot, nights and mornings cold. March 89-5 59-5 77-42 7 3-669 6 Generally a very hot and oppressive month. April . . 89-5 675 77-91 7 7-759 6 Showery, sultry, and oppres- sive weather. May . . 88-0 66-0 77-7 8 8-022 6 Cloudy, windy, rainy; mon- soon generally changes. June . . 8G-0 71-0 76-69 8 7-155 6 A very wet and stormy month. July . . 83-5 67-0 75-64 8 5 72 6 Ditto ditto. August . 8 -,-5 67-0 75-81 8 8-55 6 Showery, but sometimes more moderate, variable. September 86 5 67-0 7613 8 6-318 6 Pretty dry weather, compared with the next two months. October . 85-75 68-2 75-1 .8 15-46 6 Wind variable, much rain. November 84-0 62-0 74-79 8 14-732 6 Wind variable, storms from all points of compass, wet; monsoon generally changes. December 82 75 57-0 74-05 7 7-72 5 Sometimes wet, but generally more moderate; towards end of year like Junuarj Mean vearlyTcm- M Ra san yearly nfall, 90-75 weather. Nov. 29, 1858. perat ire, 75-92°. ii 1. nearly. J. A. Calky. Chap. H.] CLIMATE OF IvANDY. — HAIL. 69 111 all the mountain valleys, tlie soil being warmer than the air, vapour abounds in the early morning for the most part of the year. It greatly adds to the chilliness of travelhng before dawn ; but, generally speaking, it is not wetting, as it is charged with the same electricity as the surface of the earth and the human body. When seen from the heights, it is a singular object, as it hes compact and white as snow in the hollows beneath, but it is soon put in motion by the morning currents, and wafted in the dkection of the coast, where it is dissipated by the sunbeams. Snow is unknown in Ceylon ; Hail occasionally falls in the Kandyan hills at the change of the mon- soon \ but more frequently during that from the north- east. As observed at Kornegalle, the clouds, after collecting as usual for a few evenings, and gradually becoming more dense, advanced in a wedge-like form, with a well-defined outhne. The first fall of rain was preceded by a downward blast of cold air, accompanied by hailstones which outstripped the rain in their descent. Eain and hail then poured down together, and, even- tually, the latter only spread its deluge far and wide. In 1852, the hail which thus fell at Kornegalle was of such a size that half-a-dozen lumps filled a tumbler. In shape, they were oval and compressed, but the mass appeared to have formed an hexagonal pjTamid, the base of which Avas two inches in diameter, and about half-an-inch thick, gradually thinning towards the edge. They were tolerably sohd internally, each containing about the size of a pea of clear ice at the centre, but the sides and angles were spongy and flocculent, as if the particles had been driven together by the force of ' It is stated in the Physiccd Atlas I lieard of a hail storm at Jaffiia. On of Keith Jonxsiox, that hail in India has not been noticed sontli of Madras. Bnt in Ceylon it has fallen very recently at Kornegalle, at Ba- diilla, at Kadnganawa; and I have the 24th of Sept. 1857, during a thunder-storm, hail fell near Matelle in such quantity that in places it formed drifts upwards of a foot in depth. F 3 70 PHYSICAL GEOGRAPHY. [Part I. tlie wind, and had coalesced at the instant of contact. A phenomenon so striking as the I'all of ice, at tlie mo- ment of the most intense atmospherical heat, naturally attracts the wonder of the natives, who hasten to collect the pieces, and preserve them, when dissolved, in bottles, from a behef in their medicinal properties. Mr. Morris, who has repeatedly observed hailstones in the Seven Korles, is mider the impression that their occurrence always happens at the first outburst of the monsoon, and that they fall at the moment, which is marked by the first flash of hghtning. According to Professor Stevelly, of Belfast, the ra- tionale of their appearance on such occasions seems to be that, on the sudden formation and descent of the first drops, the air expanding and rushing into the void spaces, robs the succeeding drops of their caloric so effectually as to send them to the earth frozen into ice-balls. These descriptions, it will be observed, apply exclu- sively to the southern regions on the east and west of Cordon ; and, in many particulars, they are inapphcable to the northern portions of the island. At Trincomahe, the chmate bears a general resemblance to that of the Indian peninsula south of Madras : showers are fre- quent, but light, and the rain throughout the year does not exceed forty inches. With moist winds and plentiful dew, this sustains a vigorous vegetation near the coast ; but in the interior it would be insufficient for the culture of grain, were not the water husbanded in tanks ; and, for this reason, the bulk of the population are settled along the banks of the great rivers. The temperature of this part of Ceylon follows the coiQ^se of the sun, and ranges from a minimum of 70° in December and January, to a maximum of 94° in May and June ; but the heat is rendered tolerable at all seasons by the steadiness of the land and sea breezes.' 1 The following facts regarding the I ranged from elaborate returns fur- climate of Trincomalie have been ar- | nislied by Mr. IliggS; the master- CuAP. II.] CLIMATE OF JAFFNA AND TRINCOMALIE. 71 111 tlie extreme nortli of the island, the peninsula of Jaflha, and the vast plains of Neura-kalawa and the Wanny, form a third chmatic division, which, from the geological structure and peculiar configuration of the dis- trict, differs essentiaUy from the rest of Ceylon. This region, which is destitute of mountains, is undulating in a very shght degree ; the dry and parching north-east wind desiccates the soil in its passage, and the sandy plains are covered with a low and scanty vegetation, chiefly fed by the night dews and whatever moisture is brought by the on-shore wind. The total rain of the year does not exceed thirty inches ; and the inhabitants live in frequent apprehension of droughts and famines. These conditions attain their utmost manifestation at the extreme north and in the Jaffna peninsula : there the temperature is the highest ^ in the island, and, owing to the humidity of the situation and the total absence of liills, it is but httle affected by the changes of the mon- soons ; and the thermometer keeps a regulated pace with the progress of the sun to and from the solstices. The soil, except in particular spots, is porous and sandy, formed from the detritus of the coral rocks which it overlays. It is subject to droughts sometimes of a whole attendant of the port, and published | logical department of the Board of under the authority of the meteoro- j Trade : — Trincomalie. S . £3 is 2S CO \i S3 1% t-. 0) £-3 1S54. f= p. = ca §2. H c 0 1854. S c. 0 c a 1^ c 5 u ^ 3 If-' c S re ut the condensed accumu- lation of its o^m vapour, and, though in the hollow of the lower cone which rests upon the surfixce of the sea, salt water may possibly ascend in the partial vacuvim caused by revolution ; or spray may be caught up and col- lected by the wind, still these can- not be raised by it beyond a very limited height, and what Camoens saw descend was, as he truly says, the sweet water distilled from the cloud. Chap. II.] ANTHELIA. .73 and convex surfaces ; and to the spectator his own figiu'e, but more particularly the head, appears sur- TtE ANiHtLIA A IT iPi fcAB lO TUE P T^ N HIiaSbLF rounded by a halo as vivid as if radiated from dia- monds.^ The Buddhists may possibly have taken frpm this beautiful object their idea of the agni or emblem of the sun, with which the head of Buddha is sur- mounted. But unable to express a halo in sculpture, they concentrated it into a flame. Another luminous phenomenon which sometimes ap- pears in the hill country, consists of beams of light, which intersect the sky, whilst the sun is yet in the ascendant ; sometimes horizontally, accompanied by in- termitting movements, and sometimes vertically, a broad belt of the blue sky interposing between them.'"^ ' ScoKESBY describes the occur- rence of a similar pheuonienoii in the Arctic Seas in July, 1813, the lunii- nou.s circle being produced on the particles of fog which rested on the calm water. '^ The lower part of the circle descended beneath my feet to the side of the ship, and although it could not be a hundred feet from the eye, it was perfect, and the colours distinct. The centre of the coloured circle was distinguished by my own shadow, the head of which, enveloped by a halo, was most con- spicuously pourtrayed. The halo or glory was evidently impressed on the fog, but the figure appeared to be a shadow on the water ; the different parts became obscure in proportion to their remoteness from the head, so that the lower extremities were not perceptible." — Account of the Arctic Regions, vol. i. ch. v. sec. vi. p. 394. A similar phenomenon occurs in the Khasia Hills, in the north-east of Bengal. — Asiat. Soc. Journ. Beng. vol. xiii. p. 016. "^ ViGNR mentions an appeai'ance of this Irind in the valley of Kashmir : " Whilst the rest of the horizon was glowing golden over the mountain tops, a broad, well-defined ray- 74 PHYSICAL GEOGRAPHY. [P^ In Ceylon this is doubtless owing to the air hold- ing in suspension a large quantity of vapour, which receives shadows and reflects rays of hght. The natives, who designate them " Buddha's rays," attach a supersti- tious dread to their appearance, and beheve them to be portentous of misfortune — in every month, with the exception of May, which, for some unexplained reason, is exempted. Health. — In connection with the subject of "Cli- mate," one of the most important inquiries is the probable effect on the health and constitution of a Euro- pean produced by a prolonged exposure to an unvarying temperature, upwards of 30 degrees higher than the averao-e of Great Britain. But to this the most tran- o quilhsing reply is the assurance that mere heat, even to a degree beyond that of Ceylon, is not unhealthy in itself. Aden, enclosed in a crater of an extinct volcano, is not considered insalubrious ; and the hot season in India, when the thermometer stands at 100° at midnight, is comparatively a healthy period of the year. In fact, in numerous cases heat may be the means of remo\dng the immediate sources of disease. Its first perceptible effect is a shght increase of the normal bodily temperature beyond 98°, and, simultaneously, an increased activity of aU the vital functions. To this everything contri- butes an exciting sympathy — the glad surprise of the natural scenery, the luxury of verdure, the tempting novelty of fruits and food, and all the unaccustomed attractions of a tropical home. Under these combined influences the nervous sensibility is considerably excited, and the circulation acquires greater velocity, with somewhat diminished force. This is soon followed. shaped streak of indigo was sliooting upwards in the zenith : it remained nearly stationary about an hoiu", and was then blended into the sky around it, and disappeared with the day. It was, no doubt, owing- to the presence of some particular moimtains which intercepted the red rays, and threw a blue shadow, by causing so much of the sky above Kashmir to remain unaffected by them." — Travels in Kashmir, \o\. ii. ch. X. p. 115. Chap. II.] HEALTH. however, by tlie disagreeable evidences of tlie effort made by the system to accommodate itself to the new atmospheric condition. The skin often becomes fretted by " prickly heat," or tormented by a profusion of boils, but rehef being speedily obtained througli these re- sources, the new comer is seldom afterwards annoyed by a recurrence of the process, unless under circum- stances of impaired tone, the result of weakened di- gestion or chmatic derangement. Malaria. — Compared with Bengal and the Dekkan, the chmate of Ceylon presents a striking superiority in mildness and exemption from all the extremes of atmo- spheric disturbance ; and, except in particular localities, all of which are well known and avoided \ from being liable after the rains to malaria, or infested at par- ticular seasons with agues and fever, a lengthened resi- dence in the island may be contemplated, without the slightest apprehension of prejudicial results. These pes- tilential locahties are chiefly at the foot of mountains, and, strange to say, in the vicinity of some active rivers, whilst the vast level plains, whose stagnant waters are made available for the cultivation of rice, are seldom or never productive of disease. It is even believed that the deadly air is deprived of its poison in passing over an expanse of still water ; and one of the most remark- able circumstances is, that the points fronting the aerial currents are those exposed to danger, whilst projecting chffs, belts of forest, and even moderately high walls, serve to protect all behind them from attack.- In tra- ' Notwithstanding- this general con- dition, fevers of a very serious kind have been occasionally known to at- tack persons on the coast, who had never exposed themselves to the mi- asma of the jimgie. Such instances have occurred at Galle, and more rarely at Colombo. The characteristics of places in this regai'd have, in some instances, changed unaccountably ; thus at Peradenia, close to Kandy, it was at one time regarded as dan- gerous to sleep. ^ Generally speaking, a fl.at open coimtry is healthy, either when flooded deeply by rains, or when dried to hardness by the sim j but in tlie process of desiccation, its exhala- tions are perilous. The wooded slopes at the base of mountains are likewise notorious for fevers ; such as the tcrrai of the Nepal hills, the Wjiiaad jungle, at the foot of the Ghauts, and the eastern side of the mountains of Ceylon. 76 PHYSICAL GEOGRAPHY. LPart I. versing districts suspected of malaria, experience lias dictated certain precautions, wliicli, witli ordinary pru- dence and firmness, serve to neutralise tlie risk — retiring punctually at sunset, generous diet, moderate stimulants, and the daily use of quinine both before and after ex- posure. These, and the precaution, at whatever sacri- fice of comfort, to sleep under mosquito curtains, have been proved in long journeys to be valuable prophy- lactics against fever and the pestilence of the jungle. Food. — Always bearing in mind that of the quantity of food habitually taken in a temperate chmate, a certain proportion is consumed to sustain the animal heat, it is obvious that in the glow of the tropics, where the heat is already in excess, this portion of the ingesta not only becomes superfluous so far as this office is con- cerned, but occasions disturbance of the other functions both of digestion and ehmination. Over-indulgence in food, equally with intemperance in wine, is one fruitful source of disease amongst Europeans in Ceylon ; and maladies and mortahty are often the result of the former, in patients who would repel as an insult the imputation of the latter. So well have national habits conformed to instinctive promptings in this regard, that the natives of hot coun- tries have unconsciously sought to heighten the enjoy- ment of food by taking their principal repast after sun- set ^ ; and the European in the East will speedily discover for himself the prudence, not only of reducing the quantity, but in regard to the quality of his meals, of adopting those articles which nature has bountifully ^ The prohibition of swine, which has formed fin item in the dietetic ritual of the Egyptians, the Hebrews, and Mahometans, has been defended in all ages, from Manetho and Hero- dotus downwards, on the g-round that the flesh of an animal so foully fed has a tendency to promote cutaneous disorders, a belief which, though held as a fallacy in northern climates, may have a truthful basis in the East. — ^Eliajt, Hist. Am'm. 1. x. IG. In a recent general order Lord Clyde has prohibited its use in the Indian army. Camel's flesh, which is also declared imclean in Leviticus, is said to produce in the Arabs serious de- rano-enieut of the stomach. Chai'. II.] HEALTH. 77 supplied as best suited to tlie climate. With a moderate use of flesh meat, vegetables, aud especially farmaceous food, are chiefly to be commended. The latter is rendered attractive by the umivallcd excellence of the Singhalese in the preparation of in- numerable curries ^, each tempered by the dehcate creamy juice expressed from the flesh of the coco-nut after it has been reduced to a pulp. Nothing of the same class in India can bear a comparison with the piquant dehcacy of a curry in Ceylon, composed of fresh condiments and compounded by the skilful hand of a native. The use of fruit — Fruits are abundant and wholesome ; but mth the exception of oranges, pineapples, the luscious mango and the indescribable " rambutan," for want of horticultural attention they are inferior in flavour, and soon cease to be alluring. Wine. — Wine has of late years become accessible to all, and has thus, in some degree, been substituted for brandy ; the abuse of which at former periods is com- memorated in the records of tliose fearfifl disorders of the hver, derangements of the brain, exhausting fevers, and visceral diseases, which characterise the medical annals of earher times. With a firm adlierence to tem- perance in the enjopnent of stimulants, and moderation in the pleasures of the table, with- attention to exercise and frequent resort to the batli, it may be confidently asserted that health in Ceylon is as capable of preser- vation and hfe as susceptible of enjoyment, as in any country mtliin the tropics. Exposure. — Prudence and foresight are, however, as indispensable there as in any other chmate to escape weU-understood risks. Catarrhs and rheiunatism are ' The popular eiTor of tliinkinp; I tlie Christian era, and in the JLt/ia- cuny to be an invention of the Por- tciniso in the fifth centnrv of it. This tugiiese in India is disproved by tlie j subject is mentioned elsewhere : see mention in the Rajnvali of its use in I chapter on the ^\i"ts and Sciences of Ceylon in the second century before I the Singhalese. 78 PHYSICAL GEOGRAPHY. [Part I. as likely to follow needless exposure to the withering " along-shore wind " of the winter months in Ceylon ^, as they are traceable to unwisely confronting the east winds of March in Great Britain ; and during the alter- nation, from the sluggish heat which precedes the monsoon, to the moist and chill vapours that follow the descent of the rains, intestinal disorders, fevers, and liver complaints are not more characteristic of an Indian mon- soon than an Enghsh autumn, and are equ(dly amenable to those precautions by which liabihty may be diminislied in either place. Paleness. — At the same time it must be observed, that the palhd complexion peculiar to old residents, is not alone ascribable to an organic change in the skin from its being the medium of perpetual exudation, but in part to a deficiency of red globules in the blood, and mainly to a reduced vigour in the whole muscular ap- paratus, including the action of the heart, which imper- fectly compensates by increased rapidity for diminution of power. It is remarkable how suddenly this sallow- ness disappears, and is succeeded by the warm tints of health, after a visit of a very few days to the plains of Neuera-elha, or the picturesque coffee plantations in the hills that surround it. Ladies. — Ladies, from their more regular and mo- derate habits, and their avoidance of exposure, might be expected to withstand the chmate better than men ; ^ See ante, p. 57. It is an agTee- able cliaracteristic of tlie climate of Oeylon, that sim-stroke, wliicli is so common even in the northern por- tions of India, is almost nnknoAvn in the island. Sportsmen are out all day long in the hottest weather, a practice which would be thought more than hazardous in Oude or the north-west provinces. Perhaps an explanation of this may he found in the difference in moisture in the two atmospheres, wliich may modify the degi'ees of evaporation ; but the in- quiiy is a curious one. It is be- coming better understood in the army that active service, and even a moderate exposiue to the solar rays (^always guardim/ tlicm from the head), are conducive rather than injurious to health in the tropics. The pale and sallow complexion of ladies and children bom in India, is ascribable in a certain degree to the same pro- cess by which vegetables are blanched under shades which exclude the light: — they are reared in apart- ments too carefully kept dark. Chap. II.] HEALTH. 79 and to a certain extent tlie anticipation appears to be correct, but it by no means justifies the assumption of general immunity. Tliougli less obnoxious to specific disease, debility and delicacy are tlie frequent results of habitual seclusion and avoidance of the solar hglit. These, added to more obvious causes of occasional illness, suggest the necessity of vigorous exertion and regular exercise as indispensable protectives. If suitably clothed, and not mjudiciously fed, children may remain in the island till eight or ten years of age, wlien anxiety is excited by the attenuation of the frame and the apparent absence of strength in proportion to development. These symptoms, the result of relaxed tone and defective nutrition, are to be remedied by change of chmate either to the more lofty ranges of the mountains, or, more providently, to Europe. Effects on Europeans already Diseased. — To persons akeady suffering from disease, the experiment of a resi- dence in Ceylon is one of questionable propriety. Those of a scrofulous diathesis need not consider it hazardous, as experience does not show tliat in such there is any greater susceptibihty to local or constitutional disorders, or that when these are present, there is greater difficulty in thek removal. To those threatened with consumption, the island may be supposed to offer some advantages in tlie equa- bihty of the temperature, and the comparative quies- cence of the lungs from reduced necessity for respira- tory effort. Besides, the choice of climates presented by Ceylon enables a patient, by the easy cliange of resi- dence to a different altitude and temperature, avoiding the heats of one period and the dry winds of another, to check to a great extent the predisposing causes likely to lead to the development of tubercle. This, with attention to clothing and systematic exercise as pre- ventives of active disease, may serve to restrain the fiuther ]:)rogress thougli it fail to eradicate the tendency to })ht]iisis. But wlicu already the formation of tu- 80 PHYSICAL GEOGEAPHY. [Part T. bercle has taken place to any considerable extent, and is accompanied by softening, the morbid condition is not unhkely to advance with alarming celerity ; and the only compensating ckcumstance is the diminution of apparent suffering, ascribable to general languor, and the absence of the bronchial irritation occasioned by cold humid au\ Dysj^epsia. — Habitual dyspeptics, and those affected by hepatic obstructions, had better avoid a lengthened sojourn in Ceylon ; but the tortures of rheumatism and gout, if they be not reduced, are certainly postponed for longer intervals than those conceded to the same sufferers in England. Gout, owing to the great cutaneous excretion, in most instances totally disappears. Precautions for Health. — Next to attention to diet, health in Ceylon is mainly to be preserved by systematic exercise, and a costume adapted to the climate and its requirements. Paradoxical as it may sound, the great cause of disease in hot chmates is cold. Nothing ought more cautiously to be watched and avoided than the chills produced by draughts and dry winds ; and a change of dress or position should be instantly resorted to when the warning sensation of chilhness is per- ceived. Exercise. — The early morning ride, after a single cup of coffee and a biscuit on rising, and the luxury of the bath before dressing for breakfast, constitute the enjoyments of the forenoon ; and a similar stroll on horseback, returning at sunset to repeat the bath ^ pre- paratory to the evening toilette, completes the hygienic discipline of the day. At night the introduction of the Indian punka into bed-rooms would be valuable, a thin flannel coverlet being spread over the bed. Nothing ^ ''Je me souviens que les deux premieres aunees que je fus eu ce pais-la, j'eus deux maladies : (dors je pris la coidume de me Men laver soir et matin, et pendant 16 ans que j'y ay demeure depuis, je n'ay pas sent! le moindre mal." — Eibeyro, Hist, de risle de Ceylan, vol. v. ch. xix. p. 140. Chap. IL] HEALTH. 81 serves more effectually to break down an impaired con- stitution in tlie tropics tlian the want of timely and re- freshing sleep. Dress. — In the selection of dress experience has taught the superiority of cahco to hnen, the latter, when damp from the exhalation of the skin, causing a cliill which is injurious, whilst the former, from some peculiarity in its fibre, however moist it may become, never imparts the same sensation of cold. The clothing best adapted to the climate is that wdiose texture least excites the already profuse perspkation, and whose fashion presents the least impediment to its escape.^ The discomfort of woollen has led to its avoidance as far as possible ; but those who, in England, may have accustomed them- selves to flannel, will find the advantage of persevering to wear it, provided it is so light as not to excite per- spiration. So equipped for active exercise, exposure to the sun, however hot, may be regarded without ap- prehension, provided the hmbs are in motion and the body in ordinary health ; but the instinct of all oriental races has taught the necessity of protecting the head, and European ingenuity has not failed to devise expedients for this all-important object. From what has been said, it will be apparent that, compared with dontinental India, the securities for health in Ceylon are greatly in favour of the island. As to the formidable diseases which are common to both, their occurrence in either is characterised by the same appalhng manifestations : dysentery fastens, with all its fearfid con- comitants, on the unwary and incautious ; and cholera, with its dark horrors, sweeps mysteriously across neg- lected districts, exacting its hecatombs. But the visitation and ravages of both are somewhat under control, and ' ''INIan not being created an aquatic animal, his skin cannot with inipimity be exposed to pei"petual moisture, whether directly applied or arising from perspiration retamed by VOL. I. G dress. The importance to health of keeping the skin dn/ does not appear to have hitherto received due atten- tion."— PiCKEBiNG, Races of3Ian, ^r., ch. xliv. 82 PHYSICAL GEOGRAPHY. {Pakt T. the experience bequeathed by each gloomy visitation has added to the facihties for checking its recurrence.^ In some of the disorders incidental to the chmate, and the treatment of ulcerations caused by the wounds of the mosquitoes and leeches, the native Singhalese have a deservedly high reputation ; but their practice, when it depends on specifics, is too empuical to be safely re- hed on ; and their traditional skill, though boasting a well authenticated antiquity, achieves fcAV triumphs in competition with the soberer disciphne of European science. ^ " It is worthy of remark, that although all the troops in Cejdou have occasionally, but at rare inter- vals, suffered severely from cholera, the disease has in veiy few instances attacked the officers, or indeed Eu- ropeans in the same grade of life. This is one important difference to be borne in mind when estimating the comparative risk of life in India and Ceylon. It must be due to the difference in comforts and quarters, or more particularly to the exemption fi-om night duty, by far the most try- ing of the soldiers' hardships. The small mortality amongst the officers of European regiments in Ceylon is very remarkable." — Note by i)r. Ca- meron, Amiy Med. Staff. 83 CHAP. III. VEGETATION. — TREES AND PLANTS. Although the luxuriant vegetation of Ceylon lias at all times been the theme of enthusiastic admiration, its flora does not probably exceed 3000 pheenogamic plants -^ ; and notwithstanding that it has a number of endemic species, and a few genera, which are not found on the great Indian peninsula, still its botanical features may be described as those characteristic of the southern regions of Hindustan and the Dekkan. The result of some recent experiments has, however, afforded a curious confirmation of the opinion ventured by Dr. Gardner, that, regarding its botany geographically, Ceylon exhibits more of the Malayan flora and that of the Eastern Archipelago, than of any portion of India to the west of it. Two plants pe- cuhar to Malacca, the nutmeg and the mangustin, have been attempted, but unsuccessfuU}^, to be cultivated in Bengal ; but in Ceylon the former has been reared near Colombo with such singular success that its produce now begins to figure in the exports of the island ; — and mangustins, which, ten years ago, were exhibited as ^ The prolific vegetation of the was 2670 ; of which 2025 were di- island is likely to cause exaggeration cotyledonous, and 044 monocotA'ledo- intheestimate of its variety. Dr. Gard- nous flowering phmts, besides 247 ner, shortly after his appointment as ferns and lycopods. When it is con- superintendent of the Botanic Garden sidered that this is nearly double the ativandy, in-miting to Sir W. Hooker, indigenous flora of England, and little conjectured that the Ceylon flora under one fhirfiefh of the entire might extend to 4000 or 5000 species, number of plants hitherto described But from a recent Report of the pre- over the world, the botanical rich- sent curator, Mr. Thwaites, it appears ness of Ceylon, in proportion to its that the indigenous phrenognniic area, must be regarded as equal to plants discovered up to August, 1850, that of any portion of the globe. G 2 84 PHYSICAL GEOGEAPHY. [Part I. curiosities from a sinoie tree in the old Botanic Garden at o Colombo, are found to thrive readily, and they occasionally appear at table, rivalling in thek wonderful delicacy of flavour those which have heretofore been regarded as pecuhar to the Straits. Up to the present time the botany of Ceylon has been imperfectly submitted to scientific scrutiny. Linnaeus, in 1747, prepared his Flora Zeylanica, from specimens collected by Hermann, which had previously constituted the materials of the Thesaurus Zeylanicus of Burman and now form part of the herbarium in the British Museum. A succession of industrious explorers have been since engaged in following up the investigation ^ ; but, with the exception of an imperfect and unsatisfactory catalogue by Moon, no enumeration of Ceylon plants has yet been pub- lished. Dr. Gardner had made some progress with a Singhalese Flora, when his death took place in 1849, an event which threw the task on other hands, and has postponed its completion for years.^ From the identity of position and climate, and the apparent similarity of soil between Ceylon and the southern extremity of the Indian peninsula, a corre- sponding agreement might be expected between their vegetable productions : and accordingly in its aspects and subdivisions Ceylon participates in those distinctive features which the monsoons have imparted respectively to the opposite shores of Hindustan. The western coast 1 Amongst tlae collections of Cey- lon plants deposited in the Hookerian Herbarium, are those made by General and ISIrs. Walker, by Major Cham- pion (who left the island in 1848), and by Mr. Thwaites, who succeeded Dr. Gardner in charge of the Royal Botanic Gardens at Kandy. Moon, who had previously held that appoint- ment, left extensive collections in the herbarium at Peradenia, which have been largely increased by his successors ; and Macrae, who was ejuployed by the Horticultural So- ciety of London, has enriched their museum with Ceylon plants. Some admirable letters of Mrs. Walker are printed in Hooker's Com2)finion to the Botanical Maijazine. They include an excellent accoimt of the vegetation of Ceylon. '^ Dr. Gardner, in 1848, drew up a short paper containing Some Remarks on the Flora of Ceylon, which was printed in the appendix to Lee's Translation of Riheyro ; to tliis essay, and to his personal communications during frequent journeys, I am in- debted for many facts incorporated in the following pages. Chap. III.] PLANTS OF THE COAST. 85 being exposed to tlie mikler influence of the soutli-west wind, shows hixiuiant vegetation, the result of its humid and temperate climate ; wdiilst the eastern, hke Coroman- del, has a comparatively dry and arid aspect, produced by the hot winds wdiich blow for half the year. The Httoral vegetation of the seaborde exhibits httle varia- tion from that common throusfhout the Eastern archi- pelago ; but it wants the Phoeniv ]jaludosa ' , a dwarf ^ Drs. Hooker and Thomson, iu their Introductory Essay to the Flora of Lid id, sj^eaking of Ceylon, state that the Nipa fridicans (another characteristic palm of the Gangetic delta) and Cycads are also wanting there, but both these exist (the former abimdantly), though perhaps not alluded to in any work on Ceylon botany to which those authors had access. In connection ■«dth this subj ect it may be mentioned, as a fact which is much to be regTetted, that, although botanists have been appointed to the superintendence of the Botanic Gardens at Kandy, information re- garding the vegetation of the island is scarcely obtainable without ex- treme trouble and reference to papers scattered through innumerable pe- riodicals. That the maj ority of Ceylon plants are already kuo'mi to science is owing to the coincidence of their being also natives of India, whence they have been described ; but there has been no recent attempt on the part of colonial or European botanists even to throw into a useful form the already published descriptions of the commoner plants of the island. Such a work woidd be the first step to a Singhalese Flora. The preparation of such a compendium would seem to belong to the duties of the colo- nial botanist, and as such it was an oliject of especial solicitude to the late superintendent, Dr. Gardner. But the heterogeneous duties im- posed upon the person holding his office (the evils arising from which are elsewhere alluded to), have hitherto been insuperable obstacles to the attainment of this object, as they have also be^ to the prepara- tion of a s^-stematic accomit of the general features of Ceylon vegeta- tion. Such a work is strongly felt to be a desideratum by numbers of intelligent persons in Ceylon, who are not accomplished botanists, but who are anxious to acquire accurate ideas as to the aspects of the flora at difterent elevations, different seasons, and different quarters of the island ; of the kinds of plants that chiefly conti-ibute to the vegetation of the coasts, the plains, and mountains ; of the general relations that subsist between them and the flora of the Camatic, Malabar, and the Malay archipelago ; and of the more useful plants in science, arts, medicine, and commerce. To render such a work (however elementary) at once accurate as well as interesting, woidd require S(Aind scientific knowledge ; and, however skilfully and popidarly written, there would still be portions somewhat difficult of comprehension to the ordinaiy reader ; but curiosity Avould be stimulated by the very occurrence of difficult^-, and tlius an impulse might be given to the acquisition of rudimentary botany, which would eventually enable the inquirer to contribute his quota to the natural history of Ceylon. P. S. Since the foregoing passage was wTitten, Mr. Thwaites has an- noimced the early publication of a new work on Ceylon plants, to bo entitled Enumeratio Plantartim Zey- lanice : with Descriptions of the new and little hnoxai yenera and species , and observations on their habits, uses, G 3 86 PHYSICAL GEOGRAPHY. [Part 1. clate-palm, wliicli literally covers tlie islands of the Sunderbimcls at the delta of the Ganges. A dense growth of mangroves ^ occupies the shore, beneath whose overarching roots tlie ripple of the sea washes unseen over the muddy beach. Eetiring from the strand, there are groups of Sonne- ratia ^, Avicennia, Heritiera, and Pandanus ; the latter with a stem like a dwarf palm, round which the serrated leaves ascend in spkal convolutions till they terminate in a pendulous crown, from Avhich drop the amber clusters of beautiful but uneatable fruit, with a close resemblance in shape and colour to that of the pine- apple, from which, and from the pecuhar arrangement of the leaves, the plant has acquired its name of the Screw-pine. &c. In the identification of the spe- cies Mr. Thwaites is to be assisted by Dr. Hooker, F. II. S. ; and from their conjoint labours we may at last hope for a production wortliy of the subject. ' Ehizophora Candelaria, Kandelia Eheedei, Brug-uiera g^nunorhiza. ^ At a meeting of the Entomo- logical Society in 1842, Dr. Tem- pleton sent, for the use of the members, many thin slices of sub- stance to replace cork-wood as a lining for insect cases and drawers. Along with the soft wood he sent the following notice : — " In this country (he wiites from Colombo, Ceylon, May 19, 1842), along the marshy banks of the large rivers, gi-ows a very large handsome tree, named Smmeratia acicla by the younger Linnteus ; its roots spread far and wide through the soft moist earth, and at various distances along send up most extraordinary long spindle- shaped excrescences four or five feet above the surface. Of these Sir James Edward Smith remarks, ' what those horn-shaped excrescences are which occupy the soil at some dis- tance from the base of the tree, from a span to a foot in length and of a corky substance, as described by Itumphius, we can offer no conjec- tm"e.' Most curious things (remarks Dr. Templeton) they arej they all spring very narrow from the root, expand as they rise, and then become gradually attenuated, occasionally forking, but never throwing out shoots or leaves, or in any respect resembling the parent root or wood. They are firm and close in their tex- ture, nearly devoid of fibrous struc- tm'e, and take a moderate polish when cut with a sharp iustnmient ; but for lining insect boxes and making setting-boards thej^ have no equal in the world. The finest pin passes in with delightful ease and smoothness, and is held firmly and tightly so tliat there is no risk of the insects becoming disengaged. With a fine saw I form them into little boards and then smooth them with a sharp case knife, but the London veneering-mUls would tmii them out tit for immediate use, without any necessity for more than a touch of fine glass-paper. Some of my pigmy boards are two feet long by three and a half inches wide, which is more than sufficient for our purpose, and to me they have proved a vast ac- quisition. The natives call them ' Kirilimow,' the latter syllable signi- fying root." — Teiipleton-, Trans. Ent, Soc. vol. iii. p. •'^02. CuAP. III.] PLANTS OF THE COAST. ST A little further inland, the sandy plains are covered by a thorny jungle, the plants of which are the same as those of the Carnatic, the chmate being ahke ; and wherever man has encroached on the solitude, groves of coco-nut palms mark the vicinity of his habitations. Eemote from the sea, the level country of the north has a flora almost identical with that of Coromandel ; but the arid nature of the Ceylon soil, and its drier atmo- sphere, is attested by the greater proportion of euphor- bias and Heshy shrubs, as well as by the wiry and stunted natm^e of the trees, their smaller leaves and thorny stems and branches.^ Conspicuous amongst them are acacias of many lands ; Cassia fistula, the wood apple {Feronia elephantum\ and the mustard tree of Scripture {Salvadora Persica), wliich extends from Ceylon to the Holy Land. The margosa (Azadirachta Indica), the satin wood, the Ceylon oak, and the tamarind and ebony, are examples of the larger trees ; and in the extreme north and west the Palmp'a palm takes the place of the coco-nut, and not only hnes the shore, but fills the landscape on every side with its shady and prohfic groves. Proceeding southward on the western coast, the acacias disappear, and the greater profusion of vegeta- tion, the taller growth of the timber, and the darker tinge of the fohage, all attest the influence of the in- creased moisture both fi'om the rivers and the rains. The brilhant Lvoras, Erythrinas, Buteas, Jonesias, Hibis- cus, and a variety of flowering shrubs of similar beauty, enhven the forests with their splendom- ; and the seeds of the cinnamon, carried by the birds from the culti- vated gardens near the coasts, have germinated in the sandy soil, and diversify the woods with the fresh ver- dure of its pohshed leaves and dehcately-tinted shoots. It is to be found universally to a considerable height in the lower range of hills, and thither the Chahas were ' Dr. Gardner. o 4 88 PHYSICAL GEOGRAPHY. [Part T. accustomed to resort to cut and peel it, a task wliicli was imposed on them as a feudal service by the native sovereign, who paid an annual tribute in prepared cin- namon to the Dutch, and to the present time this branch of the trade in the article continues, but divested of its compulsory character. The Dutch, in hke manner, maintained, during the entire period of their rule, an extensive commerce in pepper worts, which still festoon the forest, but the export has almost ceased from Ceylon. Along with these the trunks of the larger trees are profusely covered with other dehcate creepers, chiefly Convolvuh and Ipomoeas ; and the pitcher-plant {Nepenthes distillatoria) lures the passer-by to halt and conjecture the probable uses of the curious mechanism, by means of which it distils a quantity of limpid fluid into the vegetable vases at the extremity of its leaves. The Orchideas suspend their pendulous flowers from the angles of branches, whilst the bare roots and the lower part of the stem are occasionally covered with fungi of the most gaudy colours, bright red, yellow, and purple. Of the east side of the island the botany has never yet been examined by any scientific resident, but the productions of the hill country have been largely ex- plored, and present features altogether distinct from those of the plains. For the first two or three thousand feet the dissimilarity is less perceptible to an unscientific eye, but as we ascend, the difference becomes apparent in the larger size of the leaves, and the nearly uniform colour of the fohage, except where the scarlet shoots of the ironwood tree [Mesua ferrea) seem hke flowers in their blood-red hue. Here the broad leaves of the wild plantains {Musa teMilis) penetrate the soil among the broken rocks ; and in moist spots the graceful bamboo flourishes in groups, whose feathery fohage waves hke the plumes of the ostrich.^ It is at these elevations that 1 In the INIalayan peninsula the I instrument of natural music, by per- bamboo has been converted into an | foratiug it with holes, through which Chap. IIT.] PLANTS OF THE HILLS. 89 tlie sameness of the scenery is diversified by the grassy patenas before alluded to ^, which, in their aspect, though not their extent, may be called the Savannahs of Ceylon. Here peaches, cherries, and other European fruit trees, grow freely ; but they become evergreens in this summer chmate, and, exhausted by perennial excitement, and de- prived of their winter repose, they refuse to ripen their fruit.^ A similar failure was discovered in some European vines, which were cultivated at Jaffna ; but Mr. Dyke, the government agent, in whose garden they grew, con- ceiving that the activity of the plants might be equally checked by exposing them to an extreme of warmth, as by subjectmg them to cold, tried, with perfect success, the experiment of laying bare the roots in the strongest heat of the sun. The result verified his conjecture. The circulation of the sap was arrested, the vines obtained the needful repose, and the grapes, which before had fallen almost unformed from the tree, are now brouglit to thorough maturity, though inferior in flavom* to those produced at home."^ The tea plant has been raised with complete success in the Mils on the estate of the Messrs. Worms, at Eoth- tlae wiud is permitted to siglij and tlie ellect is described as perfectly cliarm- ing\ Mr. Logan, wlio in 1847 visited Naning, coutignous to the frontier of the European settlement of Malacca, on approaching the village of Kan- dang, was sm'prised by hearing "• the most melodious sounds, some soft and liquid like the notes of a flute, and others deep and fidl like the tones of an organ. They were sometimes low, inteiTupted, or even single, and presently they would swell into a grand burst of mingled melody. On drawing near to a clump of trees, above the branches of wliich waved a slender bamboo about forty feet in length, he fomid that the musical tones issued from it, and were caused by the breeze passing throngh perforations in the stem ; the instrument thus formed is called by the natives the hulu perindu, or plaintive bam- boo." Those which Mr. Logan saw had a slit in each joint, so that each stem possessed fom-teen or twenty notes. 1 See ante, p. 24. ^ The apple-tree in the Peradenia Gardens seems not only to have be- come an evergTeen, but to have changed its character in another par- ticular ; for it is found to send out ntimerous rmmers under ground, which continually rise into small stems and form a growth of shrub- like plants around the parent tree. ^ An equally successful experi- ment, to give the vine an artificial winter by baring the roots, is re- corded by Mr. Ballaed, of Bombay, in the Transactions of the At/ric, and Ilortic. Societif of India, under date 24th May, 1824. Calcutta, 1850. Vol. i. p. 90. 90 PHYSICAL GEOGRAPHY. [Part I. schild, in Ptisilawa ^ ; but the want of any skilful mani- pulators to collect and prepare the leaves, renders it hopeless to attempt any experiment on a large scale, until assistance can be secured from China, to conduct the preparation. Still ascending, at an elevation of 6500 feet, as we approach the mountain plateau of Neuera-ellia, the dimensions of the trees again diminish, the stems and branches are covered with orchideas and mosses, and around them spring up herbaceous plants and balsams, with here and there broad expanses covered with Acan- thacece, whose seeds are the favourite food of the jungle fowl, which are always in perfection during the ripening of the Nilloo.^ It is in these regions that the tree-ferns (Also2')hila gigantea) rise from the damp hollows, and carry their gracefully plumed heads sometimes to the height of twenty feet. At length in the loftiest range of the hills the Ehododendrons are discovered ; no longer dehcate bushes, as in Europe, but timber trees of consider- able height, and corresponding dimensions, and every branch covered with a blaze of crimson flowers. In these forests are also to be met with some species of Michelia, the Indian representatives of the Magnohas of North America, several arboreous myrtacece and tern- stromiacea?, the most common of which is the cameha- like Gordonia Ceylanica.^ These and Vaccinia, Gaul- 1 The cultivation of tea was at- tempted by the Dutch^ but without success. 2 There are said to be fourteen species of the Nilloo (Sfrobilanthes) in Ceylon. They form a complete imder-growth in the forest five or six feet in height, and sometimes extending for miles. When in bloom, their red and blue flowers are a singularly beautiful feature in the landscape, and are eagerly searched by the honey bees. Some species are said to flower only once in five, seven, or nine years ; and after ripen- ing their seed they die. This is one reason assigned for the sudden appearance of the rats, which have been elsewhere alluded to (vol. i. p. 149, ii. p. 234) as invading the coffee estates, when deprived of their ordi- nary food by the decay of the nilloo. It has been observed that the jungle fowl, after feeding on the nilloo, have their eyes so aft'ected by it, as to be partially blinded, and permit them- selves to be taken by the hand. Are the seeds of this plant narcotic like some of the Solanacecs f or do they cause dilatation of the pupil, like those of the AtroiM Belladonna ? 3 Dr. Gardner. Chap. III.] PLANTS OF THE HILLS. 91 theria, Symploci, Gottghia, and Gomphandra, establish the affinity between the vegetation of this region and that of the Malabar ranges, the Khasia and Lower BQmalaya.' Generally speaking, the timber on the high mountains is of httle value for ceconomic purposes. Though of considerable dimensions, it is too unsubstantial to be serviceable for building or domestic uses ; and perhaps, it may be regarded as an evidence of its perishable nature, that dead timber is rarely to be seen in any quantity encumbering the ground, in the heart of the deepest forests. It seems to go to dust almost imme- diately after its fall, and although the process of de- struction is infinitely accelerated by the ravages of insects, especially the white ants (termites) and beetles, which instantly seize on every fallen branch : still, one would expect that the harder woods would, more or less, resist their attacks till natural decomposition should liave facihtated their operations and would thus ex- hibit more leisurely the progress of decay. But here decay is comparatively instantaneous, and it is seldom that fallen timber is to be found, except in the last stage of conversion into dust. Some of the trees in the higher ranges are remarkable for the prodigious height to which they struggle up- wards from the dense jungle towards the air and light ; and one of the most curious of nature's devices, is the singular expedient by which some famihes of these very tall and top-heavy trees throw oat buttresses like walls of wood, to support themselves from beneath. Five or six of these buttresses project hke rays from all sides of the trunk : they are from six to twelve inches thick, and advance from five to fifteen feet outward ; and as tliey ascend, gradually sink into the bole and disappear at the height of from ten to twenty feet from the ground. By the firm resistance which they offer below, the ti-ees ' Introduction to the Flora Indlca of Dr. Hooker and Dr. Thomson, p. 120. London, 1855. Sf2 PHYSICAL GEOGRAPHY. [Part I. are effectually steadied, and protected from the leverage of the crown, by which they would otherwise be uprooted. Some of these buttresses are so smooth and flat, as almost to resemble sawn planks. The greatest ornaments of the forest in these higher regions are the large flowering trees ; the most striking of which is the Ehododendron, which in Ceylon forms a forest in the mountains, and when covered with floAvers, it seems from a distance as thouoii the hills were strewn with vermilion. This is the principal tree on the summit of Adam's Peak, and grows to the foot of the rock on which rests the httle temple that covers the sacred footstep on its crest. Dr. Hooker states that the honey of its flowers is beheved to be poisonous in some parts of Sikkim ; but I never heard it so regarded in Ceylon. One of the most magnificent of the flowering trees, is the coral tree\ which is also the most familiar to Europeans, as the natives of the low country and the coast, from the circimistance of its stem being covered with thorns, plant it largely for fences, and grow it in the vicinity of their dweUings. It derives its Enghsh name from the resemblance which its scarlet flowers present to red coral, and as these clothe the branches before the leaves appear, their splendour attracts the eye from a distance, especially when lighted by the full blaze of the sun. The Murutu^ is another flowering tree which may vie with the Coral, the Ehododendron, or the Asoca, the favourite of Sanskrit poetry. It grows to a con- siderable height, especially in damp places and the neighbourhood of streams, and pains have been taken, ^ Erythrina Indica. It belongs to tlie pea tribe, aud must not be con- foimded with the Jatroplm midtijida which has also acquired the name of the coral tree. Its wood is so light and spongy, that it is used in Ceylon to form corks for preserve jars; and both there and at ^ladras the natives make from it models of their imple- ments of husbandry, and of their sailing boats and canoes. * LaRerstroemia Reoinse. CnAP. irr.] FLOWERING PLAXTS. 93- from appreciation of its attractions, to plant it by the road side and in other conspicuous positions. From the points of the branches panicles are produced, two or three feet in length, composed of flowers, each the size of a rose and of all shades, from a delicate pink to the deepest purple. It abounds in the south-west of the island. The magnificent Asoca^ is found in the interior, and is cidtivated, though not successfully, in the Peradenia Garden, and in that attached to Ehe House at Colombo. But in Toompane, and in the valley of Doombera, its lovehness vindicates all the praises bestowed on it by the poets of the East. Its orange and crimson flowers grow in graceful racemes, and the Singhalese, who have given the rhododendron the pre-eminent appellation of the " great red flower," (maha-rat-mal,) have called the Asoca the diya-rat-mal to indicate its partiahty for " moistirre," combined wdth its prevaihng hue. But the tree which will most frequently . attract the eye of the traveller, is the kattoo-imbul of the Singha- lese^, one of which produces the silky cotton which, though incapable of being spun, owing to the shortness of its dehcate fibre, makes the most luxurious stufRns: for sofiis and piUows. It is a tall tree covered wdth formidable thorns ; and being deciduous, the fresh leaves, hke those of the coral tree, do not make their appearance till after the crimson flowers have covered the branches with their bright tuhp-hke petals. So profuse are these gorgeous flowers, that when they fall, the ground for many roods on all sides is a carpet of scarlet. They are succeeded by large oblong pods, in wdiich the black polished seeds are deeply embedded in the floss which is so much prized by the natives. The trunk is of an unusually bright green colour, and the ^ Jonesia Asoca. ^ Bomhax Malaharicus. As the genus Bombax is confined to tropi- cal America, tlie German botanists. Scliott and Endliclier, have assigned to the imbiil its ancient Sanskrit name, and described it as Salnialia Malaharica. 94 PHYSICAL GEOGRAPHY. [Part I. branches issue horizontally from the stem, in whorls of threes with a distance of six or seven feet between each whorl. Near every Buddhist temple the priests plant the Iron tree (Messua ferrea) ^ for the sake of its flowers, with which they decorate the images of Buddha. They resemble white roses, and form a singular contrast mth the buds and shoots of the tree, which are of the deepest crimson. Along with its flowers the priests use hke- wise those of the Champac {Michelia Champaca)^ be- longing to the family of magnohaceai. They have a pale yellow tint, with the sweet oppressive perfume which is celebrated in the poetry of the Hindus. From the wood of the champac the images of Buddha are carved for the temples. The celebrated Upas tree of Java (Antiaris toxicaria), which has been the subject of so many romances, ex- ploded by Dr. Horsfield '^, was supposed by Dr. Gardner to exist in Ceylon, but more recent scrutiny has shown that what he mistook for it, was an alhed species, the A. saccidora, which grows at KornegaUe, and in other parts of the island ; and is scarcely less remarkable, though for very different characteristics. The Ceylon species was first brought to public notice by E. Eawdon Power, Esq., government agent of the Kandyan province, who sent specimens of it, and of the sacks which it fin^nishes, to the branch of the Asiatic Society at Colombo. It is known to the Singhalese by the name of " riti- galia," and is identical with the Lepurandra saccidora, from which the natives of Coorg, hke those of Ceylon, ' Dr. Gardner supposed the iron- wood tree of Ceylon to liave been confounded with the 3fessna ferrea of Linnjeus. He asserted it to be a distinct species, and assigned to it the well-kno%vn Singhalese name " na- f/nha/' or iron-xvood tree. But this conjecture has since proved eiToneous. ^ The vegetable poisons, the use of which is ascribed to the Singhalese, are chiefly the seeds of the Dutura, which act as a powerfid narcotic, and those of the Croton tiglium, the ex- cessive effect of which ends in death. The root of the Neriuin odorum is equally fatal, as is likewise the ex- quisitely beautiful Gloriosa siqwrba, whose brilliant flowers festoon the jimgie in the plains of the low coimtry. See Bennett's account of the Antiaris, in Hoesfield's Plantm Javanicce, Chai'. III.] BAXYAN TREE. 95 manufactiu'e an ingenious substitute for sacks by a pro- cess which is described by ]\Ii\ Nimmb.^ " A branch is cut corresponding to the length and breadth of the bag required, it is soaked and then beaten with chibs till the hber separates from the timber. This done, the sack which is thus formed out of the bark is tm^ned inside out, and drawn downwards to permit the wood to be sawn off, leaving a portion to form the bottom which is kept firmly in its place by the natiu'al attachment of the bark." As we descend the hills the banyans ^ and a variety of figs make their appearance. They are the Thugs of the vegetable world, for although not necessarily epiphytic, it may be said that in point of fact no smgle plant comes to perfection, or acquires even partial development, mth- out the destruction of some other on which to fix itself as its supporter. The family generally make their first appearance as slender roots hanging from the crown or trunk of some other tree, generally a palm, among the moist bases of whose leaves the seed carried thither by some bird which had fed upon the fig, begins to germi- nate. This root branching as it descends, envelopes the trunk of the supporting tree with a network of wood, and at length penetrating the ground, attains the di- mensions of a stem. But unlike a stem it throws out no buds, leaves, or flowers ; the true stem, with its branches, its fohage, and fruit, springs upwards from the crown of the tree whence the root is seen descending ; and from it issue the pendulous rootlets, which, on reaching the earth, fix themselves firmly and form the marvellous growth for which the banyan is so celebrated.^ In the of Bombav Plants, process in Cej'lon is * Catalog-lie p. 193. The thus described in Sir W. Hookeh's Hejjoii on the Vef/etahh Products ex- hibited in Paris in ISoo : " The trees chosen for the purpose measure above a foot in diameter. Tlie felled trunks are cut into len^zths, and the bark is well beaten with a stone or a club till the parenchjanatous part comes off, leaving- only the inner bark at- tached to the wood ; which is thus easily dra^^^l out by the hand. The bark thus obtained is fibrous and tough, resembling a woven fabric : it is sewn at one end into a sack, which is filled with sand, and dried in the sim." - Ficus ludica. ^ I do not remember to have seen PHYSICAL GEOGRAPHY. [Part I deptli of this grove, tlie original tree is incarcerated till, literally strangled by the folds and weight of its resistless companion, it dies and leaves the fig in undistiu-bed possession of its place. It is not unusual in the forest to m ^^m 9 x^ 4» ,""'"^« ^^=5t5 F JL find a fig-tree which had been thus upborne till it became a standard, now forming a hollow cylinder, the centre of which was once filled by the sustaimng tree : but the empty walls form a ckcular network of interlaced roots and branches ; firmly agglutinated under pressure, and admitting the light through interstices that look Hke loopholes in a turret. Another species of the same genus, F. repens, is a fitting representative of the Enghsh ivy, and is con- stantly to be seen clambering over rocks, turning the following passage from Pliny re- ferred to as the original of Milton's description of this marvellous tree : — '^Ipsa se serens, vastis difFimditur ramis : quorum imi adeo in terram curvantur, ut annuo spatio iufigantur, novamque sibi iwopcujincm faciunt circa imrentem in orhem. Intra septem eam astivant jmstores, opacam pariter et munitam vallo arboris, decora specie subter intuenti, proculve, _/or- nicato arbore. Foliorum latitudo 2}ett(e cffigiem Amazonicce habet^" &c. — Pliny, 1. xii. c. II. " The fig-tree — not thai kind for fruit renowned, But such as at this day to Indians known, In Malabar or Dekkan spreads her arms, Branching so broad and long, that on tlie ground The bended twigs take root, and daughters grow About the mother tree : a pillar'd shade High over arched and echoing walks between. There oft the Indian herds-man, shunning heat. Shelters ni cool and tends his pasturing flocks At loop-holes cut through thickest shade. These leaves They gathered ; broad as Amazonian targe : And with what skill they had, together sewed To gird their waist," &c. Par. Lost, ix. 1100. Pliny's description is borrowed, witli some embellishments, from The- orHiiASTUS de. Nat. Plant. 1. i. 7. iv. 4. Chap. IT!.] BANYAX TREE. 97 tlirougli heaps of stones, or ascending some tall tree to the height of thu-ty or forty feet, while the thickness of its own stem does not exceed a quarter of an mch. The facihty with wliicli the seeds of the fig-tree take root where there is a sufficiency of moisture to permit of germination, has rendered them formidable assailants of the ancient monuments throughout Ceylon. The vast mounds of brickwork which constitute the remains of the Dagobas at Anarajapoora and Pollanarrua are covered densely with trees, among which the figs are always con- spicuous. One, which has fixed itself on the walls of a ruined edifice at the latter city, forms one of the most remarkable objects of the place — its roots streaming downwards over the walls as if their wood had once been fiuid, follow every sinuosity of the building and terraces till thev reach the earth. ^ -^ _ A FIG-TEEE ON THE BOINS OF POLLAMARRDA. ! To this genus belongs the Sacred Bo-tree of the Bud- dhists, Ficus religiosa, which is planted close to every temple, and attracts almost as much vencrati(~)n as the VOL. I. 11 98 PHYSICAL GEOGRAPHY. [Part I. statue of tlie god himself. At Anarajapoora is still pre- served tlie identical tree said to have been planted 288 years before the Christian era.^ Although the India-rubber tree (F. elastica) is not indigenous to Ceylon, it is now very widely diffused over the island. It is remarkable for the pink leathery covering which envelopes the leaves before expansion, and for the dehcate tracing of the nerves which run in equi-distant rows at right angles from the mid-rib. But its most striking feature is the exposm^e of its roots, masses of which appear above ground, extending on all THE SNAXE-TEEE. sides from the base, and writhing over the surface in undidations — *' Like snakes in wild festoon, In ramous wrestlings interlaced, A forest Laocoon."^ So strong, in fact, is the resemblance, that the villagers give it the name of the " Snake-tree." One, which grows close to Cotta, at the Church Missionary estabhshment within a few miles of Colombo, affords a remarkable illustration of this pecuharity. . There is an avenue of these trees leadmg to the Gar- dens of Peradenia, the roots of which meet from either side of the road, and have so covered the surface by their agglutinated reticulations as to form a wooden 1 For a memoir of this celebrated tree, see the account of Anarajapoora, Vol. II. p. 10. Hood's poem of Jlie Elm Tree. Chap. III.] THE KUMBUK. 99 framework, tlie interstices of whicli retain the materials that form the roadway.' The Kunibuk of the Singhalese (called by the Tamils Maratha-maram) ^ is one of the noblest and most widely distributed trees in the island ; it dehghts in the banks of rivers and moist borders of tanks and canals ; it overshadows the stream of the Mahawelli-ganga, ahnost from Kandy to the sea ; and it stretches its great arms above the still water of the lakes on the eastern side of the island. One venerable patriarch of this species, which grows at Mutwal, within three miles of Colombo, towers to so great a height above the smTOunding forests of coco- nut palms, that it forms a landmark for the native boatmen, and is discernible from Negombo, more than twenty miles distant. The circumference of its stem, as measured by Mr. W. Ferguson, in 1850, w^as forty-five feet close to the earth, and seven yards at twelve feet above the ground. Tlie timber, which is durable, is apphed to the carving of idols for the temples, besides being exten- sively used for less dignified purposes ; but it is chiefly prized for the bark, v^hich is sold as a medicine, and, in addition to yielding a black dye, it is so charged with calcareous matter that its ashes, when burnt, afford a substitute for the hme which the natives chew with their betel. Some of the trees found in the forests of the interior are remai'kable for the curious forms in which they produce their seeds. One of these, which sometimes grows to the height of one hundred feet without throwing out a single branch, has been confounded with the durian of the Eastern Archipelago, or supposed to be an aUied species^, but it differs from it in the important particular ^ Mr. Ferguson, of the Surveyor- General's Department, assures me that he once measured the root of a small wild fig-tree, growing in a patena at Ilewahette, and found it 11 2 upwards of 140 feet in length, whilst the tree itself was not 30 feet high. ^ Pentaptera tomentosa (Ho.v.). ^ It is the CnUenin e.rcelsa of Wight's Icmies, &c. (7G1-2). 100 niYSICAL GEOGRAPHY. [Part T. that its fruit is not edible. The real chirian is not in- digenous to Ceylon, but was brought there by the Portu- guese in the sixteenth century.^ It has been very recently re-introduced, and is now cultivated successfully. The native name for the Singhalese tree, " Katu-boeda," de- notes the prickles that cover its fruit, which is as large as a coco-nut, and set with thorns each nearly an inch in length. The StercuUa fcetida, one of the finest and noblest of the Ceylon forest-trees, produces from the end of its branches large bunches of dark purple flowers of ex- treme richness and beauty ; but emitting a stench so in- tolerable as richly to entitle it to its very characteristic botanical name. The fi^uit is equally remarkable, and consists of several crimson cases of the consistency of leather, within Avhicli are enclosed a number of black bean-hke seeds : these are dispersed by the bursting of their envelope, which splits open to hberate them when sufficiently ripened. The Moodilla [Barringtonia speciosa) is another tree which attracts the eye of the traveller, not less from the remarkably shaped fruit which it bears tlian from the contrast between its dark glossy leaves and the delicate flowers which they surround. The latter are white, tipped with crimson, but the petals drop off early, and the stamens, of which there are nearly a hundred to each flower, when they fall to the ground might almost be mistaken for painters' brushes. The tree (as its name implies) loves the shore of the sea, and its large quadrangidar fruits, of pyramidal form, being pro- tected by a hard fibrous covering, are tossed by the waves till they root themselves on the beach. It grows freely at the mouths of the principal rivers on the west 1 PoRCACCHi, in liis Isolario, wi-it- I qiiei coconieri, clie a Venetia son ten in the sixteenth century, enume- ; chianiati angurie : in niezo del quale rates the true durian as being then trouano deutro cinque f'rutti de sapor amongst the ordinary fruit of Cey- i inolto excellente." — Lib. iii. p. 188. Ion. — " Vi nasce anchora uu frutto j Padua^ A.D. 1019, detto Duriano, verde et graude come | CiiAP. III.] THE GOUA-KADUKU. EUPHORBIA. 101 coast, and several noble specimens of it are found near the fort of Colombo. The Goda-kadm^u, or Stnjchnos nux-vomica^ is abun- dant in these prodigious forests, and has obtained an European celebrity on account of its producing the poison- ous seeds from which strychnine is extracted. Its fruit, which it exhibits in great profusion, is of the size and colour of a small orange, \\dthin which a pulpy sub- stance envelopes the seeds that form the " nux-vomica " of commerce. It grows in great luxuriance in the vicinity of the ruined tanks throughout the Wanny, and on the west coast as far south as Negombo. It is singidar that in this genus there should be found two plants, the seeds of one being not oidy harmless but wholesome, and that of the other the most formidable of knoAvn poisons.^ Amongst the Malabar immigrants there is a behef that the seeds of the goda-kaduru, if habitually taken, will act as a prophylactic against the venom of the cobra de capello ; and I have been assured that the coohes coming from the coast of India accus- tom themselves to eat a single seed per day in order to acquire the desii'ed protection from the effects of this serpent's bite.^ In these forests the Euphorbia ^, which we are accus- tomed to see only as a cactus-like green-house plant, attains the size and strength of a small timber-tree ; its quath'an- gidar stem becomes circular and woody, and its square fleshy shoots take the form of branches, or rise with a rounded top as high as thirty feet.* 1 The teUan-cotta, the use of which to increase the intoxicating power of is described in Vol. II. Pt. IX. cli. i. the spirit, p. 411, when applied by the natives ^ E. Antiquorun. to clariiH' muddy water, is the seed of * Among-st the remarkable plants another species of strychnos, S. potci- of Ceylon, there is one concerning toi'iim. The Singhalese name is iuffini which a singidar error has been per- (tettan-cotta is Tamil). petuated in botanical works from the * In India, the distillers of arrack time of Paul Hermann, who first from the juice of the coco-nut palm described it in 1G87, to the present, are said, by Roxburgh, to introduce I mean the kiri-anguna (Gymnema the seedis oi the strychnuS; in order lactiferum), evidently a form of the H 3 102 PHYSICAL GEOGRAPHY. [Part I. But that which arrests the attention even of an indif- ferent passer-by is the endless variety and ahriost incon- ceivable size and luxuriance of the climbing plants and epij)hytes which hve upon the forest trees in every part of the island. It is rare to see a single tree without its families of dependents of this description, and on one occasion I counted on a single prostrate stem no less than sixteen species of Capparis, Beaumontia, Bi- gnonia, Ipomoea, and other genera, which, in its fall, it had brought along with it to the ground. Those which are free from climbing plants have their higher branches and hollows occupied by ferns and orchids, of which latter the variety is endless in Ceylon, though the beauty of their flower is not equal to those of Brazil and other tropical countries. In the many excursions which I made with Dr. Gardner he added numerous species to those already known, including the exquisite Sac- colahium guttatum, which we came upon in the vicinity of Bintenne, but which had before been discovered in Java and the mountains of northern India. Its large groups of lilac flowers hung in rich festoons from the branches as we rode under them, and caused us many an involuntary halt to admire and secure the plants. G-. sylvestre, to whicli lias been given the name of the Ceylon cow-tree ; and it is asserted that the natives drink its juice as we do milk. Lottdon {Ency. of Plants, p. 197) says, "The milk of the G. lactiferum is used instead of the vaccine ichor, and the leaves are employed in sauces in the room of cream." And LindLey, in his Vegetable Kingdom, in speaking of the Asclepiads, says, " the cow plant of Ceylon, ' kiri-angima,' yields a milk of which the Singhalese make use for food, and its leaves are also used when boiled." Even in the English Cyclopccdia of Chakles Kntght, published so lately as 1854, this error IS repeated. (See art. Cow-tree, p. 178.) But this is altogether a mis- take ; — the Ceylon plant, like many others, has acquired its epithet oihiri, not from the juices being susceptible of being used as a substitute for milk, but simply from its resemblance to it in colour and consistency. It is a creeper, foimd on the southern and western coasts, and used medicinally by the natives, but never as an article of food. The leaves, when chopped and boiled, are administered to nurses by native practitioners, and are sup- posed to increase the secretion of mUk. As to its use, as stated by Loudon, in lieu of the vaccine matter, it is al- together eiToneous. Moon, in his Catalogue of the Plants of Ceylon, has accidentally mentioned the kiri- anguna twice, being misled by the Pali synonym " kiri-hangida " : they are the same plant, though he has inserted them as different, p. 21. CiiAP. II T.] CLIMBING PLANTS AND EPiniYTES. 103 A rich harvest of botanical discovery still remains for the scientific explorer of the chstricts south and east of Adam's Peak, whence Dr. Gardner's successor, Mr. Thwaites, has already brought some remarkable species. Many of the Ceylon orchids, hke those of South America, exhibit a grotesque simihtude to va- rious animals ; and one, a Dendrohium^ which the Sin- ghalese cultivate in the palms near their dwelling, bears a name equivalent to the miite-pigeon Jlower^ from the resemblance which its clusters present to a group of those birds in miniature chnging to the stem with wings at rest. But of this order the most exquisite plant I have seen is the AncBctocliilus setaceus, a terrestrial orchid which is to be found about the moist roots of the forest trees, and has drawn the attention of even the apa- thetic Singhalese, among whom its singular beauty has won for it the popular name of the Wanna Eaja, or " Kinsj of the Forest." It is common in humid and shady places a few miles removed from the sea-coast ; its flowers have no particular attraction, but its leaves are perhaps the most exquisitely formed in the vegetable kingdom ; their colour resembles dark velvet, approach- ing to black, and reticulated over all the sm^face with veins of ruddy gold.^ The branches of all the lower trees and brushwood are so densely covered with convolvuli, and similar dehcate climbers of every colour, that frequently it is difficult to discover the tree which supports them, owing to the heaps of verdure under which it is concealed. One very curious creeper, which always catches the eye, is the square- stemmed vine^, whose fleshy four-sided runners chmb the ' There is another small orchid bearing a slight resemblance to the wanna raja, which is often fomid growing along with it, called by the Singhalese iri raja, or "striped king." Its leaves are somewhat bronzed, but they are longer and narrower than those of the wanna raja ; and, as its Singhalese name implies, it has two white stripes rnnning through the length of each. They are not of the same genus; the wanna raja being the only species of Ancectochilus yet found in Ceylon. '^ Cissus ednlis, Dah. H 4 104 PHYSICAL GEOGRAPHY. [Part I highest trees, and hang down in the most fantastic bunches. Its stem, hke that of another plant of the same genus (the Vitis Indica), when freshly cut, jields a copious draught of pure tasteless fluid, and is eagerly sought after by ele- phants. But it is the trees of older and loftier growth that exhibit the rank luxuriance of these wonderful epiphytes in the most striking manner. They are tormented by climbing plants of such extraordinary dimensions that many of them exceed in diameter the girth of a man ; and tliese gigantic appendages are to be seen surmount- ing the tallest trees of the forest, gi'asping their stems in firm convolutions, and then flinging their monstrous tendiils over the larger hmbs till they reach the top, whence they descend to the ground in huge festoons, and, after including another and another tree in their successive toils, they once more ascend to the summit, and wind the wdiole into a maze of hving network as massy as if formed by the cable of a hne-of-battle sliip, Wlien, by-and-by, the trees on which this singular fabric has become suspended give way under its weight, or sink by their own decay, the fallen trunk speedily disappears, whilst the convolutions of climbers continue to grow on, exhibiting one of the most marvellous and pecu- liar living mounds of confusion that it is possible to fancy. Frequently one of these creepers may be seen holding by one extremity the summit of a tall tree, and grasping with the other an object at some distance near the eartli, between which it is strained as tight and straight as if hauled over a block. In all probability the young tendril had l^een oi'iginally fixed in this position by the wind, and retained in it till it had gained its maturity, where it has the appearance of having been artificially arranged as if to support a falhng tree. This peculiarity of tropical vegetation has been turned to profitable account by the Ceylon woodmen, employed by the European planters in felling forest Chap. III.] CURIOUS CLLMBING PLANTS. 105 trees, preparatory to the cultivation of coffee. In this craft they are singularly expert, and far surpass the Malabar coohes, who assist in the same operations. In steep and mountainous places Avhere the trees have been thus lashed together by the interlacing climbers, the practice is to cut halfway through each stem in succession, till an area of some acres in extent is pre- pared for the final overthrow. Then severing some tall group on the eminence, and allowing it in its descent to precipitate itself on those below, the whole expanse is in one moment brought headlong to the ground ; the falling timber forcing down those beneath it by its weight, and di^agging those behind to which it is harnessed by its Hving attachments. The crash occa- sioned by this starthng operation is so deafeningly loud, that it is audible for two or three miles in the clear and still atmosphere of the hills. One monstrous creeping plant called by the Kandyans the Maha-pus-wael, or " Great hollow chmber," ^ has pods, some of which I have seen fully five feet long and six inches broad, w^ith beautiful brown beans, so larire that the natives lioUow them out, and carry them as tinder-boxes. Another chmber of less dimensions ^, but greater luxu- riance, haunts the jungle, and often reaches the tops of the highest trees, whence it suspends large bunches of its yeUow flowers, and eventually produces clusters of prickly ]^ods containing greyish-coloured seeds, less than an inch in diameter, which are so strongly coated with silex, that they are said to strike fire hke a flint. One other curious chmber is remarkable for the vigour and vitahty of its vegetation, a faculty in which it equals, if it do not surpass, the banyan. This is the • Entada purscetha. The same plant, when found in lower situations, where it wants the soil and nioistm-e of the mountains, is so altered in appearance that the natives call it the *'heen- pus-wael ; " and even botanists have taken it for. a distinct species. The beaiitifid mountain region of Pusi- lawa, now familiar as one of the finest coftee districts in Ceylon, in all pro- bability takes its name from the giant bean, " Pus-waelawa." ^ (luilandina P>ondu(\ 106 PHYSICAL GEOGEAPHY. [Pakt I. Cocculus cordifolius, the " rasa-kinclii " of the Smghalese, a medicinal plant which produces the guluncha of Bengal. It is largely cultivated in Ceylon, and when it has acquu-ed the diameter of half an inch, it is not unusual for the natives to cut from the main stem a portion of from twenty to thirty feet in length, leaving the chssevered plant suspended from the branches of the tree which sustained it. The amputation naturally serves for a time to check its growth, but presently small rootlets, not thicker than a pack-thread, are seen shootino; downwards from the wounded end : these swing in the mnd till, reaching the ground, they attach themselves in the soil, and form new stems, which in turn, when sufficiently grown, are cut away and re- placed by a subsequent growth. Such is its tenacity of hfe, that when the Singhalese wish to grow the rasa- kindii, they twist several yards of the stem into a coil of six or eight inches in diameter, and simply hang it on the branch of a tree, where it speedily puts forth its large heart-shaped leaves, and sends down its rootlets to the earth. The ground too has its creepers, and some of them very curious. The most remarkable are the ratans, belonging to the Calamus genus of palms. Of these I have seen a specimen 250 feet long and an inch in dia- meter, without a single ^regularity, and no appearance of fohage other than the bunch of feathery leaves at the extremity. The strength of these slender plants is so extreme, that the natives employ them Avith strildng success in the formation of bridges across the water-courses and ravines. One which crossed the falls of the Mahawelli- ganga, in the Kotmahe range of hills, was constructed with the scientific precision of an engineer's work. It was entirely composed of tlie plant, caUed by the natives the " Waywel," its extremities fastened to living trees, on the opposite sides of the ravine through which a furious and otherwise impassable mountain Chap. III.] KATAN 13KID(ih:8. TllOliXY PLANTS. 107 torrent tlumdered and fell from rock to rock with a descent of nearly 100 feet. The flooring of this aerial brido"e consisted of short splints of wood, laid trans- versely, and bound in their places by thin strips of the waywel itself. The whole structure vibrated and swayed with fearful ease, but the cooKes traversed it though heavily laden ; and the European, between whose estate and the high road it lay, rode over it daily without dismounting. Another class of trees which excites the astonishment of an Eiu-opean, are those whose stems are protected, as high as cattle can reach, by thorns, which in the jungle attain a growth and size quite surprising. One species of palm ^, the Caryota horrida, often rises to a height of fifty feet, and has a coating of thorns for about six or eight feet from the ground, each about an inch in length, and so densely covering the stem that the bark is barely visible. A climbing plant, the " Kudu-miris " of the Singhalese'"^, very common in the hill jungles, with a diameter of three or four inches, is thickly studded with knobs about half an inch high, and from the extremity of each a thorn protrudes, as large and sharp as the bill of a sparrow-hawk. It has been the custom of the Singhalese from time immemorial, to employ the thorny trees of their forests in the construction of defences against their enemies. The Mahawanso relates, that in the civil wars, in the reign of Prakrama-bahu in the twelfth century, the inhabitants of the southern portion of the island intrenched themselves against his forces behind moats filled with thorns.^ And at an earlier period, during the contest of Dutugaimunu with Elala, the same authority states, that a town wdiicli he was about ' This palm I have called a Caryota on the authority of Dr. Gardner, and of Moon's Catalof/ue; but I have been informed by Dr. Hooker and Mr. TuWAiTES that it is an Areca. The natives identifj' it with the Ca- ryota, and call it the " katu-kittul." ^ Toddalia aculeata. ^ Mahawanso, ch. Ixxiv, 108 rilYSlCAL GEOGRAPHY. [Part I. to attack was " siiiToundecl on all sides by the thorny Dadambo creeper (probably Toddalia aculeata), within which was a triple line of fortifications, with one gate of difficult access." ^ During the existence of the Kandyan kingdom as an independent state, before its conquest by the British, the frontier forests were so thickened and defended by dense plantations of these thorny palms and chmbers at different points, as to exhibit a natural fortification impregnable to the feeble tribes on the other side, and at each pass which led to the level country, movable gates, formed of the same formidable thorny beams, were suspended as an ample security against the incursions of the naked and timid lowlanders.'^ The pasture grounds throughout the vicinity of Jaffna abound in a low shrub called the Buffalo-thorn^, the black twigs of which are beset at every joint by a pair of thorns, set opposite each other hke the horns of an ox, as sharp as a needle, from two to three inches in length, and thicker at the base than the stem they grow on. The Acacia tomentosa is of the same genus, with thorns so large as to be called the '•'■jungle-nail " by Europeans. It is frequent in the woods of Jaffna and Manaar, where it bears the Tamil name of Aani mulla, or " elephant thorn." In some of these thorny plants, as in the Phoheros Ga^rtneri^ Thun.^ the spines grow not singly, but in branching clusters, each point presenting a spike as sharp as a lancet ; and where these formidable* ' Mahaivanso, cli. xxv. ^ The kings of Kandy maintained a regnlation " that no one, on pain of death, should presume to cut a road tlirough the forest wider than was suthcient for one person to pass." — Wolf's Life and Adventures, p. 308. ^ Acacia latronum. ■ ^ Mr. Wm. Ferguson writes to me, " This is the famous Katu-hurundu, or 'thoniy cinnamon/ of the Singha- lese, figm*ed and described by Gaert- ner as the Limnnia jmsilla, which, after a gTeat deal of labour and re- search I think I have identified as the Phoheros macrophyllus (W. and A. Prod. p. 30). Thimberg alludes to it (Traivls, vol. iv.) — "Why the Singhalese have called it a cinnamon, I do not know, unless from some fancied similarity in its seeds to those of the cinnamon laurel.'' Cirvr. III.] TIIK I'AL.MS. 109 slii'ubs aboiiiid they render the forest absolutely im- passable, even to the elephant and to animals of great size and force. The foniily of trees which, from their singularity as well as their beauty, most attract the eye of the traveller in the forests of Ceylon, are the palms, which occur in rich profusion, although, of upwards of six hundred species which are found in other countries, not more than ten or twelve are indigenous to the island.^ At the head of these is the coco-nut, every particle of whose substance, stem, leaves, and fruit, the Singhalese turn to so many accounts, that one of their favourite topics to a stranger is to enumerate the hundred uses to which they tell us this invaluable tree is apphed,^ The most majestic and wonderful of the palm tribe is the talpat or talipat^, the stem of which sometimes attains the height of 100 feet, and each of its enormous fan-hke leaves, when laid upon the ground, will foi'ni a semicircle of 16 feet in diameter, and cover an area of nearly 200 superficial feet. The tree flowers but once, and dies ; and ^ Mr. Thwaites has enumerated fifteeu species (including- the coco- nut, and excluding' the Nipa fndicans, which more properly helongs to the ftxmily of screw-pines): viz. Areca, 4; Caryota, 1 ; Calamus, 5 ; Borassus, 1 ; Cerypha, 1 ; Phoenix, 2 ; Cocos, 1. ^ The following are only a few of the countless uses of this invaluable tree. The leaves, for roofing, for mats, for baskets, torches or chul(js, fuel, brooms, fodder for cattle, manure. The stem of the leaf, for fences, for pingoes (or yokes) for carrving bur- thens on the shoulders, for fishing- rods, and innumerable domestic uten- sils. The c(thha(/e, or cluster of unexpanded leaves, for pickles and preserves. The sap, for toddy, for distilling arrack, and for making- vinegar, and sugar. The miformed nut, for medicine and sweetmeats. The young nut and its milk, for drink- ing, for dessert; the yreeii hush for preserves. The nut, for eating-, fin- curry, for milk, for cooking-. The oil, for rheumatism, fVir anointing the hair, for soap, for candles, for light ; and the poonah, or refuse of the nut after expressing- the oil, for cattle and poultry. The shell of the nut, for drinking cups,charcoal, tooth-powder, spoons, medicine, hookahs, beads, bottles, and knife-handles. The coir, or fibre whicli envelopes the shell within the outer husk, for mattresses, cush- ions, ropes, cables, cordage, canvass, fishing-nets, fuel, , brushes, oakum, and floor mats. The tnmk, for rafters, laths, railing, boats, troughs, furni- ture, firewood ; and when very young, the first shoots, or cabbage, as a vege- table for the table. Tlie entire list, with a Singhalese enthusiast, is an interminable nan-ation of the virtues of his favourite tree. ^ Corypha umbracidifera, Linn. 110 PHYSICAL GEOGRAPHY. [PAut I. the natives firmly believe tliat the bursting of the shadix is accompanied by a loud explosion. The leaves alone are converted by the Singhalese to purposes of utihty. Of them they form coverings for their houses, and portable tents of a rude but effective character ; and on occasions of ceremony, each chief and headman on walking abroad is attended by a follower, who holds above his head an elaborately-ornamented fan, formed from a single leaf of the talpat. But the most interesting use to which they are apphed is as substitutes for paper, both for books and for ordi- nary purposes. In the preparation of olas^ which is the term apphed to them when so employed, the leaves are taken whilst still tender, and, after separating the central ribs, they are cut into strips and boiled in spring water. They are dried first in the shade, and afterwards in the sun, then made into rolls, and kept in store, or sent to the market for sale. Before they are fit for writing on they are subjected to a second process, called madema. A smooth plank of areca-palm is tied horizontally between two trees, each ola is then damped, and a weight being attached to one end of it, it is drawn backwards and forwards across the edge of the wood till the surface becomes perfectly smooth and polished ; and during the process, as the moisture dries up, it is necessary to renew it till the effect is complete. The smoothing of a single ola will occupy from fifteen to twenty minutes.^ The finest specimens in Ceylon are to be obtained at the Panselas, or Buddhist monasteries ; they are known as puskola, and are prepared by the Samanera priests (novices) and the students, under the superintendence of the priests. The raw leaves, when dried without any preparation, are called karakola, and, hke the leaves of the palmyra, are used only for ordinary purposes by the Singhalese ; but in the Tamil districts, where palmyi^as are abundant. 1 See Vol. 11. p. 528. Chap. III.] THE PALMYRA. HI and talpat palms rare, the leaves of the former are used for books as well as for letters. The 2?almyra^ is another invaluable palm, and one of the most beautiful of the family. It grows in such pro- fusion over the north of Ceylon, and especially in the peninsula of Jaffna, as to form extensive forests, whence its timber is exported for rafters to all parts of the island, as well as to the opposite coast of India, where, though the palmyra grows luxuriantly, its wood, from local causes, is too soft and perishable to be used for any purpose requiring strength and durabihty, qualities which, in the palmjTa of Ceylon, are pre-eminent. To the in habitants of the northern provinces this invaluable tree is of the same importance as tlie coco-nut palm is to the natives of the south. Its fruit yields them food and oil; its juice "palm wine" and sugar ; its stem is the chief material of theii' buildings ; and its leaves, besides serving as roofs to their dwellings and fences to their farms, supply them with matting and baskets, with head-dresses and fans, and serve as a substitute for paper for their deeds and writings, and for the sacred books, Avliich con- tain the traditions of their faith. It has been said with truth that a native of Jaffna, if he be contented with ordinary doors and mud walls, may build an entire house (as he wants neither nails nor iron work), with walls, roof, and covering from the Palmyra palm. From this same tree he may draw his wine, make his oil, kindle his fire, carry his water, store his food, cook his repast, and sweeten it, if he pleases ; in fact, hve from day to day dependent on his palmyra alone. Multitudes so hve, and it may be safely asserted that this tree alone furnishes one-fourth the means of sustenance for the population of the northern provinces. ^ BorassusflabeUiformis. For an ac- count of the Palmyra, and its culti- vation in the peninsula of Jalliia, see Fekgtjson's monogTaph on the Palmyra Palm of Ceylon, Colombo, 1850.' 112 PlIYHICAL GEOaRAniY. [Part I. The Jaggery Pali/i^, the Kitool of tlie Singhcilese, is chiefly cultivated in the Kaiiclyaii hihs for the sake of its sap, whicJi is drawn, boiled down, and crystalhsed into a coarse brown suo'ar, in universal use amongst the inhabitants of the south and west of Ceylon, who also extract from its pith a farina scarcely inferior to sago. The black fibre of the leaf is twisted by the Eodiyas into ropes of considerable smoothness and tenacity. A single Kitool tree has been pointed out at Ambogammoa, which furnished the support of a Kandyan, his wife, and their children. A tree has been known to yield one hundred pints of toddy within twenty-four hours The Areca^ Palm is the invariable feature of a native garden, being planted nea^r the wells and water-courses, as it rejoices in moisture. Of all the tribe it is the most graceful and delicate, rising to the height of forty or fifty feet'^, without an inequality on its thin pohshed stem, which is dark green towards the top, and sustains a crown of feathery fohage, in the midst of which are clustered the astringent nuts for whose sake it is carefully tended. The chewino; of these nuts with lime and the leaf of the betel-pepper supplies to the people of Ceylon the same enjoyment which tobacco affords to the inhabitants of other countries ; but its use is, if possible, more offensive, as the three articles, when combined, colour the saliva of so deep a red that the lips and teeth appear as if covered with blood. Yet, in spite of this disgusting accompani- ment, men and women, old and young, from morning till night indulge in the repulsive luxury.^ It is seldom, however, that we find in semi-civihsed ' Caiyota urens. 2 A. catechu. ^ Mr. Fei'guson measured an areca at Caltura which was seventy-five feet high, and grew near a coco-nut which was upwards of ninety feet. Caltura is^ however, remarkable for the growth and luxuriance of its vege- tation. 4 Dr. Elliot, of Colombo, has ob- served several cases of cancer in the cheek which, from its peculiar cha- racteristics, he has designated the " betcl-chewer's cancer." CiiAP III.] THE USE OF BETEL. 113 life habits universally prevailing which have not their origin, however ultimately they may be abused by excess, in some sense of utility. Tlie Turk, Avhen he adds to the oppressive warmth of the sun by enveloping his forehead in a cumbrous turban, or the Arab, when he increases the sultry heat by swathing his waist in a showy girdle, may appear to act on no other calculation than a AviUingness to sacrifice comfort to a love of display ; but the custom in each instance is the result of pre- caution — in the former, because the head requires es- pecial protection from sun-strokes ; and in the latter, from the fact well known to the Greeks (so^covoi *A;^a/oi) that, in a warm climate, danger is to be apprehended from a sudden chill to that particular region of the stomach. In like manner, in the chewing of the areca- nut with its accompaniments of hme and betel, the native of Ceylon is unconsciously applying a specific corrective to the defective quahties of his daily food. Never eating flesh meat by any chance, seldom or never using milk, butter, poultry, or eggs, and tasting fish but occasionally (more rarely in the interior of the island,) tlie non- azotised elements abound in every article he consumes with the exception of the bread-fruit, the jak, and some varieties of beans. In their indolent and feeble stomachs these are liable to degenerate into flatulent and acrid products ; but, apparently by instinct, the whole po- pulation have adopted a simple prophylactic. Every Singhalese carries in his waistcloth an ornamented box of silver or brass, according to his means, enclosing a smaller one to hold a portion of chunam (hme obtained by the calcination of shells) whilst the larger contains the nuts of the areca and a few fresh leaves of the betel-pepper. As inclination or habit impels, he scrapes down the nut, which abounds in catechu, and, rolhnf>- it up with a little of the lime in a betel-leaf, the whole is chewed, and finally swallowed, after provoking an extreme sahvation. No medical prescription could be more judiciously compounded to effect the desired object VOL. I. I 114 PHYSICAL GEOGEAPIIY. [Paet I. tlian tills practical combination of antacid, the tonic, and carminative. The custom is so ancient in Ceylon and in India that the Arabs and Persians who resorted to BLlndustan in the eighth and ninth centuries carried back tlie habit to their own country ; and Massoudi, the traveller of Bagdad, who wrote the account of his voyages in A.D. 943, states that the chewing of betel prevailed along the southern coast of Arabia, and reached as far as Yemen and Mecca. ^ Ibn Batuta saw the betel plant at Zahfar A.D. 1332, and describes it accurately as trained hke a vine over a trelhs of reeds, or chmbing the stems of the coco-nut palm.^ The leaves of the coca^ supply the Indians of Bolivia and Peru with a stimulant, whose use is equivalent to that of the betel-pepper among the natives of Hindustan and the Eastern Archipelago. With an admixture of lime, they are chewed perseveringly ; but, unlike the betel, the colour imparted by them to the sahva is greenish instead of red. It is curious, too, as a coin- cidence common to the humblest phases of semi-civlhsed hfe, that, in the absence of coined money, the leaves of the coca form a rude kind of currency in the Andes, as does the betel in some parts of Ceylon, and tobacco amongst the tribes of the south-west of Africa.^ Neither catechu nor its impure equivalent, "terra japonica," is prepared from the areca in Ceylon ; but the nuts are exported in large quantities to the Maldive Islands and to India, the produce of which they excel both in astrlngency and size. The fibrous wood of the areca being at once straight, firm, and elastic, is em- ployed for making the pingoes (yokes for the shoulders), Massoudi, Moroudj-al-Btchcb, I America when Virginia was colonised as translated by Eeinatjd, Memoire \ in the early part of the 17th centuiy ; snr rimh, p. 230. 2 Voyages, c^'-f. t. ii. p. 205. ^ Erythroxylon coca. '^ Tobacco was a currency in North debts were contracted and paid in it, and in every ordinary transaction tobacco answered the purposes of coin. CiiAi". III.] TIMBER TEEES. 115 by means of wliicli tlie Singhalese coolie, like the cor- responding class among the ancient Egyptians and the Greeks, carries his burdens, dividing them into portions of equal weight, one of wliicli is suspended from each end of the pingo. By a swaying motion communicated to them as he starts, his own movement is facihtated, whereas one unaccustomed to the work, by allowing the oscillation to become irregular, finds it almost impossible to proceed with a load of any considerable weight.^ Timber trees, either for export or domestic use, are not found in any abundance except in the low country, and here the facihty of floating them to the sea, down the streams which intersect the eastern coast of the island, has given rise to an active trade at Batticaloa and Trinco- mahe. But, unfortunately, the indifference of the local officers entrusted with the issue of hcences to fell, and the imperfect control exercised over the adventurers who embark in these speculations, has led to a destruction of trees quite disproportionate to the timber obtained, and utterly incompatible with the conservation of the valuable Idnds. The East India Company have had occasion to deplore the loss of thek teak forests by similar neglect and mismanagement ; and it is to be hoped that, ere too late, the attention of the Ceylon Government may be so di- rected to this important subject as to lead to the appoint- ment of competent foresters, under whose authority and superintendence the felling of timber may be carried on. An interesting memoir on the timber trees of Ceylon has been prepared by a native officer at Colombo, Adrian Mendis, of Morottu, carpenter-moodhar to the Eoyal Engi- neers, in which he has enumerated upwards of ninety species, which, in various parts of the island, are emploj^ed either as timber or cabinet woods.^ Of these, the jak, ' The natives of Tahiti use a yoke of the same form as the Singhalese j)i/>f/o, but made from the wood of the Hibiscus tilinceus. — Darwi:x, Kat. Vol/, ch. xviii. p. 407. For a fm-tJier account of the piugo see Voh I. Part IV. ch. viii. p. 497. ^ Mendis' List will be found a\)- pendod to the C<'i/lu)i Caloidur fur 1854. I 2 116 PHYSICAL GEOGEAPIIY. [Part I. the Kangtal of Bengal {Artocarpus integrifoHa), is, next to the coco-nut and Pahnyra, by far the most vahiable to the Singhalese ; its fruit, which sometimes attains the weight of 50 lbs., supplying food for their table, its leaves fodder for their cattle, and its trunk timber for every con- ceivable purpose both oeconomic and ornamental. The Jak tree, as well as the Del, or wild bread-fruit, is in- digenous to the forests on the coast and in the central provinces ; but, although the latter is found in the vicinity of the villages, it does not appear to be an object of special cultivation. The Jak, on the contrary, is planted near every house, and forms the shade of every garden. Its wood, at first yelloAV, approaches the colour of mahogany after a httle exposure to the air, and resembles it at all times in its grain and marking. The Del {Artocarpus p)uhescens) affords a valuable timber, not only for architectural purposes, but for ship- building. It and the Halmalille ^ resembhng but larger than the hnden tree of England, to which it is closely aUied, are the favomite building woods of the natives, and the latter is used for carts, casks, and aU household purposes, as well as for the hulls of their boats, from the behef that it resists the attack of the marine worms, and that some unctuous property in the wood preserves the iron work from rust.^ The Teak {Tectona grandis\ which is superior to all others, is not a native of this island, and although largely planted, has not been altogether successfid. But the satin-wood ^, in point of size and durabihty, is by far the &st of the timber trees of Ceylon. For days together I have ridden under its magnificent shade. All the forests around Batticaloa and Triiicomahe, and as far north as Jaffna, are thickly set with this valuable tree. It grows to the height of a hundred feet, Avith a rugged 1 Eerrya ammoiiilla. 2 The Masula boats, wliicli brave tlie formidable snrf of Madras, are made of Halmalille, Avbicb is there called "Trincomalie wood," from the place of exportation. 2 Chloroxylon Swietenia. Chap. ITT.] CABINET WOODS. 117 grey bark, small white flowers, and polisliecl leaves, with a somewhat unpleasant odour. Owing to the difficulty of carrying its heavy beams, the natives only cut it near the banks of the rivers, down which it is floated to the coast, whence large quantities are ex- ported to every part of the colony. The richly-coloured and feathery pieces are used for cabinet-work, and the more ordinary logs for building purposes, every house in the eastern province being floored and timbered with satin-wood. Another useful tree, very common in Ceylon, is the Suria^, with flowers so like those of a tulip that Euro- peans know it as the tuHp tree. It loves the sea air and sahne soils. It is planted all along the avenues and streets in the towns near the coast, where it is equally valued for its shade and the beauty of its yel- low flowers, w^hilst its tough Avood is used for carriage shafts and gun-stocks. The forests to the east furnish the only valuable ca- binet woods used in Ceylon, the chief of which is ebony ^, which grows in great abundance throughout all the flat country to the west of Trincomahe. It is a different species from the ebony of Mamdtius^, and excels it and all others in the evenness and intensity of its colour. The centre of the trunk is the only portion which fiu^- nishes the extremely black part which is the ebony of commerce ; but the trees are of such magnitude that reduced logs of two feet in diameter, and varying from ten to fifteen feet in length, can readily be procured from the forests at Trincomalie. There is another cabinet wood, of extreme beauty, caUed by the natives Cadooberia. It is a bastard species of ebony*, in which the prevaihng black is stained with stripes of rich brown, approaching to yellow and pink. But its density is inconsiderable, and in dural)i- lity it is far inferior to that of true ebony. 1 Tliespesia popiilnea. I ' D. reticulata, ^ Diospyros ebeniun. | ■* D. ebeuaster. I 3 118 PHYSICAL GEOGRArHY. [Part I. Tlie Calamander^, the most valuable cabinet wood of the island, resembling rose-wood, but much surpassing- it both in beauty and durabihty, has at all times been in the greatest repute in Ceylon. It grows chiefly in the southern provinces, and especially in the forests at the foot of Adam's Peak ; but here it has been so pro- digally felled, first by the Dutch, and afterwards by the English, without any precautions for planting or production, that it has at last become exceedingly rare. Wood of a large scanthng is hardly procurable at any price ; and it is only in a very few locahties, the prin- cipal of which is Saffragam, in the western province, that even small sticks are now to be found ; one reason assigned for tliis is that the heart of the tree is seldom sound, a pecuharity which extends to the Cadooberia. The twisted portions, and especially the roots of the latter, yield veneers of unusual beauty, dark wavings and blotches, almost black, being gracefully disposed over a dehcate fawn-coloured ground. Its density is so great (nearly 60 lbs. to a cubic foot) that it takes an exquisite polish, and is in every way adapted for the manufacture of fi-irniture, in the ornamenting of which the native carpenters excel. The chiefs and headmen, with a full appreciation of its beauty, take particular pride in possessing specimens of this beautiful wood, roots of which they regard as most ac- ceptable gifts. Notwithstanding its value, the tree is nearly eradi- cated, and runs some risk of becoming extinct in the island ; but, as it is not pecuhar to Ceylon, it may be restored by fresh importations from the south-eastern coast of India, of Avhich it is equaUy a native, and I apprehend that the name, Calamcmder, which was used by the Dutch, is but a corruption of " Coromandel." Another species of cabinet wood is produced from the Nedun", a large tree common on the western coast ; it 1 D. liirsiita. I ^ D.nlLerjiia lanoeolaiia. Chap. TIL] FRUIT-TREES. 119 belongs to tlic Pea tribe, and is allied to the Sisso of India. Its wood, wliicli is lighter than the " Blackwood " of Bombay, is used for similar purposes. *' The Tamarind tree\ and especially its fine roots, pro- duce a variegated cabinet wood of much beauty, but of such extreme hardness as scarcely to be workable by any ordinary tools.^ As to fruit trees, it is only on the coast, or near the large villages and towns, that they are found in any perfection. In the deepest jungle the sight of a single coco-nut towering above the other fohage is in Ceylon a never-faihng landmark to intimate to a traveller his approach to a village. The natives have a superstition that the coco-nut will not grow out of the sound of the human voice, and wiU die if the village where it had previously thriven become deserted; the solution of the mystery being in all probabihty the superior care and manuring winch it receives in such locahties.° In the generahty of the forest hamlets there are always to be found a few venerable Tamarind trees of patriarchal proportions, the ubiquitous Jak, with its huge fruits, weighing from 5 to 50 lbs. (the largest eatable fruit in the world), each springing from the rugged surface of the bark, and suspended by a powerful stalk, wliich attaches it to the trunk of the tree. Lime-trees, Oranges, and Shaddoks are carefully cultivated in these httle gardens, and occasionally the Eose-apple and the Cachu-nut, the Pappaya, and invariably as plentiful a supply of Plantains as they find it prudent to raise without in- ^ Tamarindus Indica. 2 The nath'es of Western India Lave a belief that the shade of the tamaiind tree is unhealthy, if not poisonous. Jjut in Ceylon it is an object of the people, especially in the north of the island, to build their houses luider it, from the conviction that of all trees its shade is the coolest. In this feeling, too, the Europeans are so far disposed to conciu- that it has been suggested whether there may not be something peculiar in the re- spiration of its leaves. The Sin- ghalese have an idea that the twigs of the ranna-wara {Cassia auriculatd) diffuse an agreeable coolness, and they pull them for the sake of enjoying it hy holding them in their hands or applied to the head. In the south of Ceylon it is called the Matm'a tea- tree, its leaves being infused as a sub- stitute for tea. =* See A^ol. II. p. 125. I 4 120 PHYSICAL GEOGRAPHY. [Part I. viting tlie visits of tlie wild elephants, with whom they are especial favourites. These, and the Bihnibi and Guava, the latter of which is naturalised in the jungle around every cottage, are almost the only fruits of the countiy ; but the Pine- apple, the Mango, the Avocado-pear, the Custard-apple, the Eambutan [Nephelium lappaceum), the Fig, the Gra- nadilla, and a number of other exotics, are successfully reared in the gardens of the wealthier inhabitants of the towns and villages ; and within the last few years the peerless Mangustin of Malacca, the dehcacy of which we can imagine to resemble that of perfumed snow, has been successfully cultivated in the gardens of Caltura and Colombo. With the exception of the orange, the fruits of Ceylon have one deficiency, common, I apprehend, to all tropical countries. They are wanting in that piquancy which in northern chmates is attributable to the exquisite perfection in which the sweet and aromatic flavours are blended with the acidulous. Either the acid is so ascendant as to be repulsive to the Em^opean palate, or the saccharine so preponderates as to render Singhalese fruit cloying and distasteful. Still, all other defects are compensated by the coolness which pervades them ; and, under the ex- haustion of a blazing sun, no more exquisite physical enjoyment can be imagined than the chill and fragrant flesh of the pine-apple, or the abundant juice of the mango, which, when freshly pulled, feels as cool as iced water. But the fruit must be eaten instantly ; even an interval of a few minutes after it has been gathered is sufficient to destroy the charm ; for, once severed from the stem, it rapidly acquires the temperature of the surroundino; air. Sufficient admiration has hardly been bestowed upon the marvellous power displayed by the vegetable world in adjusting its own temperature, notwithstanding at- mosplieric fluctuations, — a faculty in the manifestation Chap. III.] TEMPEEATURE OF FRUIT. 121 of wliich it appears to present a counterpart to that exhibited by animal oeconoiny in regulating its heat. So uniform is the exercise of the latter faculty in man and the higher animals, that there is barely a difference of three degrees between the warmth of the body in the utmost endm^able vicissitudes of heat and cold ; and in vegetables an equivalent arrangement enables them in winter to keep their temperature somewhat above that of the surrounding air, and in summer to reduce it far below it. It would almost seem as if plants possessed a power of producing cold analogous to that exhibited by animals in producing heat ; and of this beneficent arrangement man enjoys the benefit in the luxurious coolness of the fruit Avhich nature lavishes on the tropics. The pecuhar organisation by which this result is ob- tained is not free from obscurity, but in all probability the means of adjusting the temperature of plants is simply dependent on evaporation. As regards the power possessed by vegetables of generating heat, although it has been demonstrated to exist, it is in so triflino- a de- gree as to be almost inappreciable, except at the period of germination, when it probably arises from the con- sumption of oxygen in generating the carbonic acid gas which is then evolved. The faculty of retaining this warmth at night and at other times may, therefore, be referable mainly to the closing of the pores, and the con- sequent check of evaporation. On the other hand, the faculty of maintaining a tem- peratm^e below that of the surrounding afr, can only be accounted for by referring it to the mechanical process of imbibing a continuous supply of fresh moisture from the soil, the active transpiration of which imparts cool- ness to every portion of the tree and its fruit. It requires this combined operation to produce the desired result ; and the extent to which evaporation can bring down the temperature of the moisture received by absorption, may be inferred from the fact that Dr. Hooker, when 122 PHYSICAL GEOGRAPHY. [Part I. ill the valley of the Ganges, found the fresh milky juice of the Mudar (calotropis) to be but 72°, whilst the damp sand in the bed of the river where it grew was from 90° to 104°. Even in temperate climates this phenomenon is calcu- lated to excite admiration ; but it is still more striking to find the Hke effect rather increased than diminished in the tropics, where one would suppose that the juices, especially of a small and delicate plant, before they could be cooled by evaporation, would be hable to be heated by the blazing sun. A difficulty would also seem to present itself in the instance of fruit, whose juices, having to undergo a chemical change, their circulation would be conjectured to be slower ; and in the instance of those Avith hard skins, such as the pomegranate, or with a tough leathery coat- ing, hke the mango, the evaporation might be imagined to be less than in those of a soft and spongy texture. But all share alike in the general coolness of the plant, so long as circulation supphes fluid for evaporation ; and the moment this resource is cut off by the sepa- ration of the fiaiit from the tree, the supply of moisture faihng, the process of refrigeration is arrested, and the charm of agreeable freshness gone. It only remains to notice the aquatic plants, which are found in greater profusion in the northern and eastern provinces than in any other districts of the island, owing to the innumerable tanks and neglected watercourses which cover the whole surface of this once productive province, but which now only harbour the alligator, or satisfy the thkst of the deer and the ele- phant. The chief ornaments of these neglected sheets of water ' See on tliis subject Lindlet's Introduciion to Botany, vol. ii. book ii. cli. viii. p. 215. CAlirENTEli, Animal Physiology, cli. ix. s. 407. Cartenxer's Vcye- tahle Physiology, cb. xi. s. 407. Loncl. 1848. Chap. III.] VARIETIES OF THE LOTUS. 123 are the large red and white Lotiis^, Avhose flowers may be seen from a great distance reposing on their broad green leaves. In China and some parts of India the black seeds of these plants, which are not unhke httle acorns in sliape, are served at table in place of almonds, which they are said to resemble, but Avith a superior dehcacy of flavour. At some of the tanks where the lotus grows in profu- sion in Ceylon, I tasted the seeds enclosed in the torus of the flowers, and found them white and delicately- flavoured, not unhke the smaU kernel of the pine cone of the Apennines. This red lotus of the island appears to be the one that Herodotus describes as abounding in the Nile in his time, but which is now extinct ; with a flower resembhng a rose, and a fruit in shape hke a wasp's nest, and containing seeds of the size of an olive stone, and of an agreeable flavour.^ But it has clearly no identity w^ith those Avhich he describes as the food of the Lotophagi of Africa, of tlio size of the mastic^, sweet as a date, and capable of being- made into wine. One species of the water lily, the NymiDlicea ruhra, Avith smaU red flowers, and of great beauty, is conmion in the ponds near Jafliia and in the Wanny; and I found in the fosse, near the fort of Moeletivoe, the beautifid blue lotus, N. steUata, wdtli hlac petals, approaching to purple in the centre, which had not previously been supposed to be a native of the island. Another very interesting aquatic plant, which was disco- vered by Dr. Gardner in the tanks north of Trincomalie, is the Desmanthus natans, with highly sensitive leaves float- ^ Nelunibiimi speciosum. ^ Herodotus, b. ii. s. 92. ^ The \\'ords are "fart i^uynBoc oaov re r»;c cx^""^" (Herod, b. iv. S. 177) ; and as nylvog means also a sqiii/l or a sea-onion, the fruit above referred to, as the food of the Lotophagi, must have been of infinitely larger size and in every way different from the lotus of the Nile, described in the 2ud book, as well as from the lotus in the East. Lindley records the conjecture that the article referred to by Herodotus was the tiah/,-, the berry of the lote-bush (Zih/phi/s lofm), which the Arabs of IJarbary still eat. ( Vegetable Kingdom, p, 582.) 124 PHYSICAL GEOGEAPIIY. [Part I. iiig on the surface of tlie water. It is borne aloft by masses of a spongy cellular substance, which occur at intervals along its stem and branches, but the roots never touch the bottom, absorbing nourishment whilst floating at liberty, and only found in contact with the ground after the sub- sidence of water in the tanks. ^ ' A species of Utricularia, with yellow flowers (U. stellaris), is a common water-plant in the still lakes near the fort of Colombo, where an opportimity is aftbrded of observing the extraordinary provision of nature for its reproduction. There are small appendages attached to the roots, which become distended with air, and thus cany the plant aloft to the sui'- face, diu'ing the cool season. Here it floats till the operation of flowering- is over, when the vesicles biu'st, and by its OAvn weight it retm-ns to the bottom of the lake to ripen its seeds and deposit them in the soil ; after which the air vessels again fill, and again it re-ascends to undergo the same process of fecimdation. PAUT II. ZOOLOGY. 127 CHAPTEE I. MAMMALIA. With the exception of the MammaUa and the Bh\ls, the fauna of Ceylon has, up to the present, failed to receive that systematic attention to which its richness and variety so amply entitle it. The Singhalese themselves, habitually indolent, and singularly unobservant of natm-e in her operations, are at the same time restrained from the study of natural history by the tenets of their rehgion which forbid the taldng of hfe under any circumstances. From the natiu"e of their avocations, the majority of the Eitropean residents engaged in planting and commerce, are discouraged from cultivating this taste ; and it is to be regretted that the civil servants of the government, whose position and duties would have afforded them influence and extended opportunity for successful in- vestigation, have never seen the unportance of encoiu^ag- iuo; such studies. The first effective impulse to the cultivation of natural science in Ceylon, was communicated by Dr. Davy when connected with the medical staff of the army from 1816 to 1820, and his example stimulated some of the assistant- surgeons of Her Majesty's forces to make collections in illustration of the productions of the colony. Of these the late Dr. Kinnis was one of the most energetic and success- ful. He was seconded by Dr. Templeton of the Eoyal AitiUery, who engaged assiduously in the investigation of various orders, and commenced an interchange of speci- mens with Mr. Blyth\ the distinguished naturahst and curator of the Calcutta Museum. ^ Journ. Asicit. Sac, Hent/al, vol. xv. p. 280, 314. 128 ZOOLOGY. [Paet II. The birds and rarer vertebrata of the island were thus compared with their peninsular congeners, and a tolerable knowledge of those belonging to the island, so far as regards the higher classes of animals, has been the result. The example so set has been perseveringly followed by Mr. E. L. Layard and Dr. Kelaart, and in- finite credit is due to Mr. Blyth for the zealous and untuing energy with which he has devoted his attention and leisure to the identification of the various interesting species forwarded from Ceylon, and to their description in the Calcutta Journal. To him, and to the gentleman I have named, we are mainly indebted for whatever accurate knowledge we now possess of the zoology of the colony. The mammalia, birds, and reptiles received their first scientific description in an able work pubHshed recently by Dr. Kelaart of the army medical staff \ which is by far the most valuable that has yet appeared on the Singhalese fauna. Co-operating with him, Mr. Layard has supplied a fund of information especially in ornitho- logy and conchology. The zoophytes and Crustacea have been investigated by Professor Harvey, who visited Ceylon for that purpose in 1852, and by Professor Schmarda, of the University of Prague, who was lately sent there for a similar object. From the united labouis of these gentlemen and others interested in the same pursuits, we may hope at an early day to obtain such a knowledge of the zoology of Ceylon, as may to some extent compensate for the long indifference of the govern- ment officers. I. QuADRUMANA. 1 Moiikeys. — To a stranger in the tropics, among the most attractive creatures in the forests are the troops of monkeys, which career in cease- less chase among tlie loftiest trees. In Ceylon there ^ Prodroinus Fauna; Zeylanicce ; heitu/ Ccmfr ill lit ions to the Zoology of Ceylon, by F. Kelaaet, Esrj[., M.D", F.L.S., &;c. &c. 2 vols. Colombo and I.oudon, 1852. Mr. Davy, of the Medical Stalf, brother to Sir Ilum- phiy, published in 1821 his Account of the Interior of Ceylon and its In- fiahitants, which contains the earliest notices of the natural history of the island, and especially of the Ophidian reptiles. Chap. I.] MONKEYS. 129 are five species, four of whicli belong to one group, the Wanderoos, and the other is the httle graceful grimacing rilaica^, which is the universal pet and favourite, of both natives and Europeans, Knox, in his captivating account of the island, gives an accurate description of both ; the Eilawas, with "no beards, white faces, and long hair on the top of their heads, which parteth and hangeth do^vn hke a man's, and whicli do a deal of mischief to the corn, and are so impudent that they will come into their gardens, and eat such fruit as grows there. And the Wanderoos, some as large as our Enghsh Spaniel dogs, of a darkish grey colour, and black faces with great white beards round from ear to ear, which makes them shew just hke old men. This sort does but little mis- chief, keeping in the woods, eating only leaves and buds of trees, but when they are catched they will eat anything." ^ Knox, whose experience was confined almost ex- clusively to the hill country around Kandy, spoke in all probabiHty of one large and comparatively powerful species, Presbytes ursimis, which inhabits the lofty forests, and which, as well as another of the same group, P. Thersites, was, tiU recently, unknown to European naturahsts. The Singhalese word Ouanderu has a generic sense, and being in every respect the equivalent for our own term of " monkey," it necessarily comprehends the low country species, as well as those which inhabit other parts of the island. And, in point of fact, in the island there are no less than four animals, each of wliich is entitled to the name of " wanderoo."^ * Macacus pileatus, Shaw and Desmmarest. The "bonneted Ma- caque" is common in the south and west ; and a spectacled monkey is said to inhabit the low country near to Bintenne ; but I have never seen one brought thence. A paper by Dr. Templeton, in the Mag. Nat. Hist. n. s. xiv. p. 301, contains some VOL. I. K interesting facts relative to the Ri- lawa of Ceylon. ^ IvJs'OX, Historical Relation of Cey- lon, an Island in the East Indies. — P. i. ch. vi. p. 25. Fol. Lond. 1681. ^ Down to a very late period, a large and somewhat repulsive-look- ing monkey, common to the Malabar coast, the Silenus veter, Linn., was, 130 ZOOLOGY. TPart ir. Each separate species has appropriated to itself a different district of the wooded country, and seldom encroaches on the domain of its neighbours. 1. Of the four species found in Ceylon, the most numerous in the island, and the one best known in Europe, is the Wanderoo of the low country, the P. cej)lialo'pterus of Zimmerman.^ It is an active and inteUigent creature, not much larger than the common bonneted Macaque, and far from being so mischievous as others of the monkeys in the island. In captivity it is remarkable for the gravity of its demeanour and for an air of melancholy in its expression and move- ments, which is completely in character with its snowy beard and venerable aspect. Its disposition is gentle and confiding, it is in the highest degree sensible of kindness, and eager for endearing attentions, uttering a low plaintive cry when its sympathies are excited. It is particularly cleanly in its habits when domes- ticated, and spends much of its time in trimming its fur, and carefully divesting its hair of particles of dust. from tlie eircumstance of his pos- sessing a "gi'eat white beai'd," incor- rectly assumed to be the " wande- roo" of Ceylon, described by Knox ; and under that usurped name it has figured in every author from Buftbn to the present time. Specimens of the trvie Sinolialese species were, however, received in Europe ; but in the absence of information in this coimtry as to tlieir actual habitat, they were described, first by Zim- merman, on the continent, under the name of Lvucoprnmnus ceplm- lopterus, and subsequently by Mr. E. Bennett, imder that of Semno- pifhecus Nestor (Proc, Zool. Soc. pt. i. p. 67 : 18.33) ; the generic and specific charac'ters being on this oc- casion most carefully pointed out by th.at eminent naturalist. Eleven years Later Dr. Templeton forwarded to the Zoological Society a descrip- tion, accompanied by drawings, of the wanderoo of the western maritime districts of Ceylon, and noticed the fact that the wanderoo of authors (S. veter) was not to be found in the island except as an introduced species in the custody of the Arab horse- dealers, who ■visit the port of Colombo at stated periods. Mr. Waterhouse, at the meeting (Proc. Zool. Soc. p. 1 : 1844) at which this communication was read, recognised the identity of the subject of Dr. Templeton's de- scription with that already laid before them by Mr. Bennett ; and from this period the species in question was believed to truly represent the wan- deroo of Knox. The later discovery, however, of the P. ursinus by Dr. Kelaart, in the mountains amongst which we are assured that Knox spent so many years of captivity, reoj)ens the question, but at the same time ap- pears to me to clearly demonstrate that in this latter we have in reality the animal to which his narrative refers. ' Leucoprynmus Nestor, Bennett. Chap. I.] MONKEYS. 131 Although common m tlie southern and western provinces, it is never found at a liigher elevation than 1300 feet. Wlien observed in their native wilds, a party of twenty or thirty of these creatures is generally busily engaged in the search for berries and buds. They are seldom to be seen on the ground, and then only when they have descended to recover seeds or fruit that have fallen at the foot of their favourite trees. In their alarm, when disturbed, their leaps are prodigious ; but generally speaking, their ]3rogress is made not so much by leapi7ig as by swinging from branch to branch, using their powerful arms alternately ; and when baffled by distance, flinging themselves obhquely so as to catch the lower boughs of an opposite tree, the mo- mentum acquired by their descent being sufficient to cause a rebound, that carries them again upwards, till they can grasp a higher branch ; and thus continue their headlong flight. In these perilous achievements, wonder is excited less by the surpassing agihty of these httle creatures, frequently encumbered as they are by their young, which chng to them in their career, than by the quickness of their eye and the unerring accuracy with which they seem almost to calculate the angle at which a descent would enable them to cover a eriven distance, and the recoil to elevate themselves again to a higher altitude. 2. The low country Wanderoo is replaced in the hills by the larger species, P. ursinus, which inhabits the mountain zone. The natives, Avho designate the latter the Maha or Great Wanderoo, to distinguish it from the Kaloo, or black one, with which they are famihar, describe it as much wilder and more powerful than its congener of the lowland forests. It is rarely seen by Europeans, this portion of the country having till very recently been but partially opened ; and even now it is difficult to observe its habits, as it seldom approaches the few roads which wind through these deep sohtudes. It K 2 132 ZOOLOGY. [Part II. was first captured by Dr. Kelaart in the woods near Neuera-ellia, and from its peculiar appearance it has been named P. ursinus by Mr. Blyth.^ 3. The P. TJiersites, which is chiefly distinguished ft-om the others by wanting the head tuft, is so rare that it was for some time doubtful whether the single specimen pro- cured by Dr. Templeton fi"om Neuera-kalawa, west of Trincomahe, and on which Mr. Blyth conferred this new name, was in reahty native ; but the occurrence of a second, since identified by Dr. Kelaart, has estabhshed its existence as a separate species. Like the common wanderoo, this one was partial to fresh vegetables, plantains, and fruit ; but he ate freely boiled rice, beans, and gram. He was fond of being noticed and petted, stretching out his hmbs in succes- sion to be scratched, drawing himself up so that his ribs might be reached by the finger, and closing his eyes during the operation, evincing his satisfaction by grimaces irresistibly ludicrous. 4. The P. Priamus inhabits the northern and eastern provinces, and the w^ooded hills which occur in these portions of the island. In appearance it differs both in size and in colour from the common wanderoo, being larger and more inchmng to grey ; and in habits it is much less reserved. At Jaffna, and in other parts of the island where the population is comparatively nu- merous, these monkeys become so famiharised with the presence of man as to exhibit the utmost daring and indifference. A flock of them will take possession of a Palmyra palm ; and so effectually can they crouch and conceal themselves among the leaves that, on the slightest alarm, the whole party becomes invisible in an instant. The presence of a dog, however, excites ^ Mr. Blytli quotes as autliority for this trivial name a passage from Major Forbes' Eleven Years in Cey- lon ; and I can vouch for the graphic accuracy of the remark. — " A species of very large monkey, that passed some distance before me, when rest- ing on all fom-s, looked so like a Ceylon bear, that I nearly took him for one." Chap. L] THE LORIS. 133 such an irrepressible curiosity that, in order to watch his movements, they never fail to betray themselves. They may be seen frequently congregated on the roof of a native hut ; and, some years ago, the child of a European clergyman stationed at Tillipalh having been left on the ground by tlie nurse, was so teased and bitten by them as to cause its death. The Singhalese have the impression that the remains of a monkey are never found in the forest ; a behef which they have embodied in the proverb that " he who has seen a white crow, the nest of a paddy bird, a straight coco-nut tree, or a dead monkey, is certain to hve for ever." This piece of folk-lore has evidently reached Ceylon from India, where it is believed that persons dwelling on the spot where a hanuman monkey, S. entellus, has been killed, will die, and that even its bones are unlucky, and that no house erected where they are hid under ground can prosper. Hence when a house is to be built, it is one of the employments of the Jyotish philosophers to ascertain by their science that none such are concealed ; and Buchanan observes that " it is, perhaps, owing to this fear of ill-luck that no native will acknow- ledge his having seen a dead hanuman." ^ The only other quadrumanous animal found in Ceylon is the httle loris '\ which, from its sluggish movements, nocturnal habits, and consequent inaction during the day, has acquired the name of the "Ceylon Sloth." There are two varieties in the island ; one of the ordi- nary fulvous brown, and another larger, whose fur is entirely black. A specimen of the former was sent to me from Chilaw, on the western coast, and lived for some time at Colombo, feeding on rice, fruit, and veoe- tables. It was partial to ants and other insects, and always eager for milk or the bone of a fowl. The naturally slow motion of its hmbs enables the loris to ^ Buchanan's Survey of Bhagul- jwor, p. 142. At Gibraltar it is be- lieved that the body of a dead monJ^ey is never found on the rock. ^ Loris gracilis, Geoff, K 3 134 ZOOLOGY. [Part II. approacli its prey so stealthily tliat it seizes birds before they can be alarmed by its presence. The natives assert that it has been known to strangle the pea-fowl at night, and feast on the brain. During the day the one which I kept was usually asleep in the strange po- sition represented below ; its perch firmly grasped with all hands, its back curved into a ball of soft fur, and its head hidden deep between its legs. The singularly- large and intense eyes of the loris have attracted the THE LOEIS attention of the Singhalese, who capture the creature for the purpose of extracting them as charms and love- potions, and this they are said to effect by holding the little animal to the fire till its eyeballs burst. Its Tamil name is theivangu, or " thin-bodied ; " and hence a deformed child or an emaciated person has acquired Chap. I.] BATS. l;?5 ill the Tamil districts the same epithet. The hght- coloured variety of the loris in Ceylon has a spot on its forehead, somewhat resembhng the iiamam, or mark worn by the worshippers of Vishnu ; and, from this pecuharity, it is distinguished as the Nama-theivangu} 11. Cheiroptera. Bats.- — The multitude of hats is one of the features of the evening landscape ; they abound in every cave and subten-anean passage, in the tunnels on the highways, in the galleries of the fortifications, in the roofs of the bungalows, and the ruins of every temple and building. At sunset they are seen issuing from their diurnal retreats to roam through the twilight in search of crepuscular insects, and as night approaches and the hghts in the rooms attract the night-flying lepidoptera, the bats sweep round the dinner-table and carry off their tiny prey within the gUtter of the lamps. Including the frugivorous section about sixteen species have been identified in Ceylon, and of these, two varieties are pecuhar to the island. The colours of some of them are as brilhant as the plumage of a buxl, bright yellow, deep orange, and a rich ferruginous brown inchning to red.^ The Eoussette^ of Ceylon (the "Flying-fox," as it is usually called by Europeans) measures from three to four feet from point to point of its extended wdiigs, and some of them have been seen wantino; but a few inches of five feet in the alar expanse. These sombre-looldng creatures feed chiefly on ripe fruits, the guava, the plantain, and the rose- apple, and are abundant in all the maritime districts, especially at the season when the silk-cotton tree, the pulun-iiyibul"^, is putting forth its flower-buds, of which ' There is an interesting notice of the loris of Ceylon by Dr. Temple- ton, in the Maff. Nat. Hist. 1844, ch. xiv. p. 362. ^ Rhinolophus affinis ? z'ar. rubidus, Keltmrt. Ilipposideros mnrinns, liar, fulvus, Kelaurt. Ilipposideros speoris, var. aureus, Kelaart. Kerivoula picta, Pallas. Scotopbilus Heathii, Ilorsf. ^ Pteropus Edwardsii, Geoff. * Eriodendron orientale, Stead. K 4 136 ZOOLOGY. [Part IT. tliey are singularly fond. By day they suspend them- selves from the highest branches, hanging by the claws of the hind legs, pressing the chin against the breast, and using the closed membrane attached to the fore- arms as a mantle to envelope the head. At sunset launching into the air, they hover with a murmuring sound occasioned by the beating of their broad mem- branous wings, around the fruit trees, on which they feed till morning, when they resume their pensile atti- tude as before. They are strongly attracted to the coco-nut trees during the ]:)eriod when toddy is drawn for distillation, and exhibit, it is said, at such times symptoms resembUng intoxication.^ The flying-fox is killed by the natives for the sake of its flesh, which I have been told, by a gentleman who has eaten it, resembles that of the liare.^ There are several varieties (some of them pecuhar to the island) of the horse-shoe-headed Rhinolophus, with the strange leaf-hke appendage erected on the extremity of the nose. It has been suggested that bats, though nocturnal, are deficient in that keen vision characteristic 1 Mr. Th>vaites, of tlie Eoyal Bo- tanic Garden, at Kandy, in a recent letter, 19th Dec. 1858,* gives the fol- lowinp description of a periodical visit of the pteropiis to an avenue of fig-trees : — " You would be much interested now in observing a colony of the jiteropus bat, which has estab- lished itself for a season on some trees within sight of my bimgalow. They came about the same time last year, and, after staying a few weeks, disappeared : I suppose they had demolished all the available food in the neighbourhood. They are now busy of an evening eating the figs of Ficiis elastica, of which we have a long avenue in the grounds, as I dare say you remember. " These bats take possession during the day of particular trees, upon which they hang like so much ripe fruit, but they take it into their heads to have some exercise every morning between the hours of 9 and 11, dming which they are wheeling about in the air by the hundred, seemingly enjoying the simshine and warmth. They then return to their fevourite tree, and remain quiet imtil the evening, when they move off towards their feeding gi'oimd. There is a great chattering and screaming amongst them before they can get agi-eeably settled in their places after their morning exercise ; quar- relling, I suppose, for the most com- fortable spots to hang on by during the rest of the day. The trees they take possession of become nearly stripped of leaves ; and it is a curious sight to see them in such immense numbers. I do not allow them to be disturbed." "^ In Western India the native Portuguese eat the flying-fox, and pronoimce it delicate, and far from disagreeable in flavour. Chap. I.] BEARS. 137 of animals which take their prey at night. I doubt whether this conjecture be well founded ; but at least it would seem that in their pecuhar oeconomy some addi- tional power is required to supplement that of vision, as in insects that of touch is superadded, in the most sensitive development, to that of sight. Hence, it is possible that the extended screen stretched at the back of their nostrils may be intended by nature to facihtate the collection and conduction of odours, as the vast development of the shell of the ear in the same family is designed to assist in the collection of sounds — and thus to reinforce their vision when in pursuit of their prey at twihght by the superior sensitiveness of the organs of hearing and smell, as they are already remarkable for that marvellous sense of touch which enables them, even when deprived of sight, to direct tlieir flight with security, by means of the dehcate nerves of the wing. One tiny httle bat, not much larger than the humble bee\ and of a glossy black colour, is sometimes to be seen about Colombo. It is so familiar and gentle that it will ahght on the cloth during dinner, and manifests so httle alarm that it seldom makes any effort to escape before a wine glass can be inverted to secure it.^ III. Carxivora. — Bears. — Of the carnivora, the one most dreaded by the natives of Ceylon, and the only one of the larger animals which makes the depths of the forest its habitual retreat, is the bear^, attracted by the honey which is to be found in the hoUow trees and clefts of the rocks. Occasionally spots of fresh earth are observed which have been turned up by them in search of some favourite root. They feed also on the termites and ants. A friend of mine traversing the forest near Jaffna, at early dawn, had his attention attracted by the ^ It is a veri/ small Singhalese variety of Scotophilus Coromandeli- cxis, i*'. Cuv. ^ For a notice of the curious para- site peculiar to the bat, see Note A. end of this chapter, 3 Prochilus labiatus, Blainville. 138 ZOOLOGY. [Part II. growling of a bear, which was seated upon a lofty branch thrusting portions of a red-ant's nest into its mouth with one paw, whilst with the other he endeavoured to clear his eyebrows and lips of the angry inmates which bit and tortured him in their rage. The Ceylon bear is found only in the low and dry districts of the northern and south-eastern coast, and is seldom met with on the mountains or the moist and damp plains of the west. It is furnished with a bushy tuft of hair on the back, be- tween the shoulders, to which the young are accustomed to chng till sufficiently strong to provide for their own safety. During a severe drought which prevailed in the northern province in 1850, the district of Caretchy was so infested by bears that the Oriental custom of the women resorting to the wells was altogether suspended, as it was a common occurrence to find one of tliese animals in the water, unable to chmb up the yielding and shppery soil, down which his thirst had impelled him to slide during the night. Althouo;h the structure of the bear shows him to be naturally omnivorous, he rarely preys upon flesh in Ceylon, and his sohtary habits whilst in search of honey and fruits, render him timid and retmng. Hence he evinces alarm on the approach of man or other animals, and, unable to make a rapid retreat, his panic rather than any vicious disposition leads him to become an assailant in self-defence. But so furious are his assaults under such circumstances that the Singhalese have a terror of his attack greater than that created by any other beast of the forest. If not armed with a gun, a native, in the places where bears abound, usually carries a hght axe, called " kodelly," with which to strike them on the head. The bear, on the other hand, always aims at the face, and, if successful in prostrating his victim, usually commences by assaihng the eyes. I have met numerous individuals on our journeys who exhibited frightful scars from these encounters, the white seams Chap. l.J LEOPARDS. 139 of tlieir wounds contrasting hideously with the dark colour of the rest of their bodies. The Veddahs in Bintenne, whose cliief stores consist of honey, hve in dread of the bears, because, attracted by its peif ume, they will not hesitate to attack thek rude dwel- lings, when allured by this irresistible temptation. The Post-office runners, who always travel by night, are frequently exposed to danger fi-om these animals, espe- cially along the coast from Putlam to Aiipo, where they are found in considerable numbers ; and, to guard against surprise, they are accustomed to carry flambeaux, to give warning to the bears, and enable them to shuffle out of the path.^ Leopards^ are the only formidable members of the ^ Amongst tlie Singhalese there is a belief that certain charms are effi- cacious in protecting them from the violence of bears^ and those whose avocations expose them to encoimters of this kind are accustomed to cany a talisman either attached to their neck or enveloped in the folds of their luxuriant hair. A friend of mine, writing of an adventure which oc- eun-ed at Anarajapoora, thus de- scribes an occasion on which a Moor, who attended him, was somewhat rudely disabused of his belief in the efficacy of chamis upon bears : — *' Desiiing to change the position of a herd of deer, the Moonnan (with his chai-m) was sent across some swampy land to disturb them. As he was proceeding we saw him suddenly tm-n from an old tree and rim back with all speed, his hair becoming im- fastened and like his clothes stream- ing in the wind. It soon became evident that he was flying from some terrific object, for he had thrown down his gun, and, in his panic, he was taking the shortest line towards us, which lay across a swamp covered with sedge and rushes that greatly impeded his progi-ess, and prevented us approaching him, or seeing what was the cause of his flight. Missing his steps from one hard spot to an- other he repeatedly fell into the water, but he rose and resumed his flight. I advanced as far as the sods would bear my weight, but to go fur- ther was impracticable. Just within ball range there was an open space, and, as the man gained it, I saw that he was pm'sued by a bear and two cubs. As the person of the fugitive covered the bear, it was impossible to fii-e A\athout risk. At last he fell exhausted, and the bear being close upon him, I discharged both barrels. The first broke the bear's shoulder, but this only made her more savage, and rising on her hind legs she ad- vanced with ferocious gi'unts, when the second barrel, though I do not think it took effect, served to frighten her, for tm-ning round she reti-eated at fidl speed, followed by the cubs. Some nati^-es then waded through the mud to the Moorman, who was just exhausted and would have been drowned but that he fell "«-ith his head upon a tuft of grass : the poor man was unable to speak, and for several weeks his intellect seemed confused. The adventure sufficed to satisfy him that he could not again depend upon a chann to protect him from bears, though he always msisted that but for its having fallen from his hair where he had fastened it imder his turban, the bear would not have ventured to attack him. ^ Felispardus, ZjVuj. "What is called a leopard, or a cheetah, in Ceylon, is in reality the true panther. 140 ZOOLOGY. [Part IT. tiger race in Ceylon, and they are neither very nume- rous nor very dangerous as they seldom attack man. By Europeans they are commonly called cheetahs ; but the true cheetah, the hunting leopard of India [Felis jubata), does not exist in Ceylon. There is a rare variety which has been found in various parts of the island, in which the skin, instead of being spotted, is of a uniform black. ^ The leopards frequent the vicinity of pasture lands in quest of the deer and other peace- ful animals which resort to them ; and the villagers often complain of the destruction of their cattle by these formidable marauders. In relation to them, the natives have a curious but firm conviction that when a bullock is killed by a leopard, and, in expiring, falls so that its right side is undermost^ the leopard will not return to devour it. I have been told by Enghsli sportsmen (some of whom share in the popular behef), that sometimes, when they have proposed to watch by the carcase of a bullock recently killed by a leopard, in the hope of shooting the spoiler on his return in search of his prey, the native owner of the slaugli- tered animal, though earnestly desiring to be avenged, has assured them that it would be in vain, as, the beast having faUen on its right side, the leopard would not return. The Singhalese hunt them for the sake of their ex- tremely beautiful skins, but prefer taking them in traps and pitfalls, and occasionally in spring cages formed of poles driven firmly into the ground, within which a kid is generally fastened as a bait ; the door being held open by a sapling bent down by the united force of several men,- and so arranged to act as a spring, to which a noose is ingeniously attached, formed of plaited deer hide. The cries of the kid attract the leopards, one of which, being tempted to enter, is enclosed by the hbe- ration of the spring and grasped firmly round the body by the noose. ' F. melas, Peron and Zeseur. CiiAF. I.] LEOPARDS. 141 Like the other carnivora, they are timid and cowardly in the presence of man, never intruding on him vohni- tarily and making a hasty retreat when approached. Instances have, however, occm:'red of individuals having been slain by them, and hke the tiger, it is behoved, that, having once tasted human blood they acquire an habitual rehsh for it. A peon on night duty at the court- house at Anarajapoora,was some years ago carried off by a leopard from a table in the verandah on which he had laid down his head to sleep. At Batticaloa a " cheetah" in two instances in succession was known to cany off men placed on a stage erected in a tree to drive away elephants from the rice-lands : but such cases are rare, and as compared with their dread of the bear, the natives of Ceylon entertain but shght ap- prehensions of the " cheetah." It is, however, the dread of sportsmen, whose dogs when beating in the jungle are especially exposed to its attacks : and I am aware of one instance in which a party having tied their dogs to the tent-pole for security, and fallen asleep around them, a leopard sprang into the tent and carried off a dog from the midst of its slumbering masters. They are strongly attracted by the peculiar odour ^vhich accompanies small-pox. The reluctance of the natives to submit themselves or their chilch-en to vac- cination exposes the island to frightful visitations of this disease ; and in the villages in the interior it is usual on such occasions to erect huts in the jungle to serve as temporary hospitals. Towards these the leopards are certain to be allured ; and the medical officers are obhged to resort to increased precautions in consequence. On one occasion being in the momitauis near Kandy, a messenger despatched to me through the jungle excused his delay by stating that a "cheetah" had seated itself in the only practicable path, and remained quietly hcking its fore paws and rubbing them over its face, till he was forced to drive it, with stones, into the forest. 142 ZOOLOGY. [Part II. Major Skinner, who for upwards of forty years has had occasion to live ahnost constantly in the interior, occupied in the prosecution of surveys and the construction of roads, is strongly of opinion that towards man the dispo- sition of the leopard is essentially pacific, and that, when discovered, its natural impulse is to effect its escape. In illustration of this, I insert an extract from one of his letters, which describes an adventure highly characteristic of this instinctive timidity. " On the occasion of one of my visits to Adam's Peak in the .prosecution of my mihtary reconnoissances of the mountain zone, I fixed on a pretty httle patena (i. e. meadow) in the midst of an extensive and dense forest in the southern segment of the Peak Eange, as a favourable spot for operations. It would have been difficult, after descending from the cone of the peak, to have found one's way to this point, in the midst of so vast a wilderness of trees, had not long experience assured me that good game tracks would be found leading to it, and by one of them I reached it. It was in the afternoon, just after one of those tropical sun-showers which decorate every branch and blade with its pendant brilliants, and the little patena was covered with game, either driven to the open space by the di^ippings from the leaves or tempted by the freshness of the pasture : there were several pairs of elk, the bearded antlered male contrasting finely with his mate ; and other varieties of game in a profusion not to be found in any place frequented by man. It was some time before I could allow them to be disturbed by the rude faU of the axe, in our necessity to estabhsh our bivouac for the night, and they were so unaccustomed to danger, that it was long before they took alarm at our noises. " The following morning, anxious to gain a height in time to avail myself of the clear atmosphere of sunrise for my observations, I started off by myself through the jungle, leaving orders for my men, with my surveying instruments, to follow my track by the notches which Chap. I.] LEOPARDS. 143 I cut in the bark of the trees. On leaving the plain, I availed myself of a fine wide game track which lay in my direction, and had gone, perhaps half a mile from the camp, when I was startled by a slight rustling in the nilloo^ to my right, and in another instant, by the spring of a magnificent leopard which, in a bound of fidl eight feet in height over the lower brushwood, lighted at my feet within eighteen inches of the spot whereon I stood, and lay in a crouching position, his fieiy gleaming eyes fixed on me. " The predicament was not a pleasant one. I had no weapon of defence, and with one spring or blow of liis paw the beast could have annihilated me. To move I knew would only encom^age his attack. It occurred to me at the moment that I had heard of the power of man's eye over wild animals, and accordingly I fixed my gaze as intently, as the agitation of such a moment enabled me, on his eyes : we stared at each other for some seconds, when, to my inexpressible joy, the beast turned and bounded down the straight open path before me." " This scene occurred just at that period of the morning when the grazing animals retired from the open patena to the cool shade of the forest : doubtless, the leopard had taken my approach for that of a deer, or some such animal. And if his spring had been at a quadruped instead of a biped, his distance was so well measured, that it must have landed him on the neck of a deer, an elk, or a bufftdo ; as it was, one pace more would have done for me. A bear would not have let his victim off so easily." It is said, but I never have been able personally to verify the fact, that the Ceylon leopard exliibits a peculiarity in being unable entirely to retract its claws within their sheaths. Of the lesser feline species the number and variety ' A species of one of the suffi-uticose I in the mountain ranges of Ceylon. Acantfuieece which gi'ows abundantly | See ante, p. 90 n. 144 ZOOLOGY. [Part II. in Ceylon is inferior to that of India. The Pahn-cat^ hu^ks by day among the fronds of the coco-nut trees, and by night makes destructive forays on the fowls of the villagers ; and, in order to suck the blood of its victim, inflicts a wound so small as to be almost imperceptible. The glossy genette ^, the " Civet" of Europeans, is common in the northern province, where the Tamils confine it in cages for the sake of its musk, which they collect from the wooden bars on which it rubs itself. Edrisi, the Moorish geographer, writing in the twelfth century, enu- merates musk as one of the productions then exported from Ceylon. ^ Dogs. — There is no native wild dog in Ceylon, but every village and town is haunted by mongrels of Eu- ropean descent, whicli are known by the generic descrip- tion of Pariahs. They are a miserable race, acknowledged by no owners, hving on the garbage of the streets and sewers, lean, wretched, and mangy, and if spoken to unexpectedly, shrinking with an almost involuntary cry. Yet in these persecuted outcasts there survives that germ of instinctive affection Avhich binds the dog to the human race, and a gentle word, even a look of com- passionate kindness, is sufficient foundation for a lasting attachment. The Singhalese, from their religious aversion to taking away hfe in any form, permit the increase of these desolate creatures till in the hot season they become so numerous as to be a nuisance ; and the only expedient hitherto devised by the civil government to reduce their numbers, is once' in each year to offer a reward for their destruction, when the Tamils and Malays pursue them in the streets "with clubs (guns being forbidden by the police for fear of accidents), and the unresisting dogs are beaten to death on the side-paths and door steps, where they had been taught to resort ' ParadoxiuTis typus, F. Cuv. I ^ Edrisi, Geof/r., sec. vii. Jau- - Viverra Indica, Geoffr., Hodyson, \ bert'a translation, t. ii. p. 72. CUAP. I.j THE MONGOOS. 145 for food. Lord Torrington, during his tenure of office, attempted the more civiHsed experiment of putting some check on theii^ numbers, by imposing a dog tax, the effect of which would have been to lead to the drowning of puppies ; whereas there is reason to beheve that dogs are at present bred by the horse-keepers to be killed for sake of the reward. Jackal. — The Jackal ^ in the low country hunts hi packs, headed by a leader, and these audacious prowlers have been seen to assault and pull down a deer. The small number of hares in the districts they infest is ascribed to their depredations. An excrescence is sometimes found on the head of the jackal, con- sisting of a small horny cone about half an inch in length, and concealed by a tuft of hair. This the natives call Narri-comhoo, and they aver that this " Jackal's Horn " only grows on the head of the leader of the pack.^ The Singhalese and the Tamils ahke regard it as a talisman, and believe that its fortunate possessor can command by its instrumentahty the reah- sation of every wish, and that if stolen or lost by him, it will invariably return of its own accord. Those who have jewels to conceal, rest in perfect security if along with them they can deposit a JSTarri-comboo, fidly con- vinced that its presence is an effectual safeguard against robbers. Jackals are subject to hydrophobia, and instances are frequent of cattle being bitten by them and dying in con- sequence. The Mongoos. — Of the Mongoos or Ichneumons five species have been described ; and one which frequents the hills near Neuera-elha^, is so remarkable from its * Canis aureus, Linn. '^ In the Museum of tlie College of Surgeons, London (No. 43G2 a), there is a cranium of a jackal which exhi- bits this strange osseous process on the super-occipital ; and I have placed along with it a specimen of the horny VOL. I. sheath, which was presented to me by Mr. Lavalliere, the district judge of Kandy. ^ Ho-pestes viiticoUis. Mr. W. Elliott, in his CctUtloi/ue of 3Iain.- maliafomul in the iSo/iihern 3Iahar(ita Cuimtry, Madras, 1840, says, that 146 ZOOLOGY. [Part II. bushy fur, tliat tlie invalid soldiers in the sanatarium, to whom it is familiar, caU it the " Ceylon Badger." I have found universally that the natives of Ceylon attach no credit to the European story of the Mongoos {H. griseus) resorting to some plant, w^hich no one has yet succeeded in identifying, as an antidote against the bite of the venomous serpents on which it preys. There is no doubt that in its conflicts with the cobra de capello and other poisonous snakes, which it attacks with as little hesitation as the harmless ones, it may be seen occasionally to retreat, and even to retire into the jungle, and, it is added, to eat some vegetable ; but a gentleman who has been a frequent observer of its exploits, assures me that most usually the herb it resorted to was grass ; and if this were not at hand, almost any other that grew near seemed ecjually acceptable. Hence has probably arisen the long list of plants ; such as tlie OpJiioxylon serpentinum and Opldorhiza mungos, the Aristolochia Indica, the Mi- mosa octandru^ and others, each of which has been asserted to be the ichneumon's specific ; whilst their multiphcity is demonstrative of the non-existence of any one in particular to which the animal resorts for an antidote. Were there any truth in the tale as regards the mongoos, it would be difficult to understand, why other creatures, such as the secretary bird and the falcon, which equally destroy serpents, should be left defenceless, and the ichneumon alone provided with a j)rophylactic. Besides, were the ichneumon inspired by that courage which would result from the conscious- ness of security, it would be so indifferent to the bite of the serpent, that we might conclude that, both in its approaches and its assault, it would be utterly careless as to the precise mode of its attack. Such, however, is far ' One specimen of this Herpestes was procured by accident in tlie Ghat forests in 1829, and is now deposited in the Britisli Museum ; it is very rare, inhabiting only the thickest woods) and its habits are very little known," p. 9. In Ceylon it is com- paratively common. Chap. I.] THE MONGOOS. 147 from being the case ; and next to its audacity, notliing is more siu-prising than the adroitness with which it escapes the spring of the snake under a due sense of danger, and the cunning witli which it makes its ar- rangements to leap upon the back and fasten its teeth in the head of the cobra. It is this display of instinctive ingenuity that Lucan^ celebrates where he paints the ichneumon diverting the attention of the asp, by the motion of his bushy tale, and then seizing it in the midst of its confusion. " Aspidas ut Pliarias cauda solertior liostis Liidit, et iratas incei-tti provocat umbra : Obliquiisque caput vanas serpentis in amvas Effusse toto coniprendit guttura niorsu Letiferam citra saniem ; tunc irrita pestis Exprimitur; faucesque fluuut pereunte veneno." Pliarsah'a, lib. iv. v. 729, The mystery of the mongoos and its antidote has been referred to the supposition that there may be some pecuharity in its organisation which renders it proof against the poison of the serpent. It remains for future investigation to determine how far this conjec- ture is founded in truth ; and whether in the blood of the mongoos there exists any element or quahty which acts as a prophylactic. Such exceptional provisions are not without precedent in the animal oeconomy : the hornbill feeds with impunity on the deadly fruit of the stryclmos ; the milky juice of some species of euphorbia, which is liarmless to oxen, is invariably fatal to the zebra ; and the tsetse fly, the pest of South Africa, Avhose bite is mortal to the ox, the dog, and tlie horse, is harmless to man and the untamed creatures of the forest.'"^ The Singhalese distinguish one species of mongoos, which they designate " Hotamheya" and which they ^ The passage in Lucan is a versi- fication of tlie same narrative related liv Pliiiv, lib. viii. cli. 35 ; and /Elian, lib. iii. di. 23. 2 Dr. Livingstone, Tour in S. Africa, p. 80. Is it a fact that in America, pigs extiipato the rattle- snakes with impimity ? L 2 48 ZOOLOGY. [rAKT II. assert never preys upon serpents. A writer in tlie Ceylon Miscellany mentions, that they are often to be seen " crossing rivers and frequenting mud-brooks near Chilaw ; the adjacent thickets affording them sheUer, and their food consisting of aquatic reptiles, crabs, and mollusca." ^ IV. EoDENTiA. Squirrels. — Smaller animals in great numbers enhven the forests and lowland plains with their gracefid movements. Squirrels^, of which there are a great variety, make their shrill metallic call heard at eai'ly morning in the woods, and when sounding their note of warning on the approach of a civet or a tree- snake, the ears tingle with the loud trill of defiance, which rings as clear and rapid as the running down of an alarum, and is instantly caught up and re-echoed from every side by their terrified playmates. One of the largest, belonging to a closely allied sub- genus, is known as the " Flying Squirrel," ^ from its being assisted in its prodigious leaps from tree to tree, by the parachute formed by the skin of the flanks, which on the extension of the limbs front and rear, is laterally expanded from foot to foot. Thus buoyed up in its descent, the spring which it is enabled to make from one lofty tree to another resembles the flight of a bhd rather than the bound of a quadruped. Of these pretty creatures there are two species, one common to Ceylon and India, the other [Sciuropterus Layardii, Kelaart) is pecuhar to the island, and is by far the most beautiful of the family. 1 This is possibly the " miisbilai " or mouse-cat of Behar, which preys upon birds and fish. Could it be the Urva of the Nepalese ( Urra cancriv&ra, Hodgson), which Mr. Hodgson de- scribes as dwelling in burrows, and being carnivorous and ranivorous ? — Vide Journ. As. Soc. Bok/., vol. vi. p. 56. "^ Of two kinds which frequent the ]uountains, one which is peculiar to Ceylon was discovered by Mr. Edgar L. Layard, who has done me the honour to call it the Sciurus Tenncntii. Its dimensions are large, measuring upwards of two feet from head to tail. It is distinguished from the S. macmrus by the predominant black colour of the ujiper surface of the body, with the exception of a rusty spot at the base of the ears. ^ Pteromys oral., Tickel. P. pet- aurista, Pallas, CiiAr. I.] THE EAT-SNAK3. 149 Rats. — Among the multiftxrious inhabitants to wliich tliG forest affords at once a home and provender is the tiee rat\ which forms its nest on the brandies, and by turns makes its visits to the dweUings of the natives, frequenting the ceihngs in preference to the lower parts of liouses. Here it is incessantly followed by the rat- snake^, whose domestication is encouraged by the native servants, in consideration of its services in destroying vermin. I had one day an opportunity of surprising a snake which had just seized on a rat of this description, and of covering it suddenly with a glass shade, before it had time to swallow its prey. The serpent, which ap- peared stunned by its own capture, allowed the rat to escape from its jaws, which cowered at one side of the glass in the most pitiable state 'of trembUng terror. The two were left alone for some moments, and on my re- turn to them the snake was as before in the same attitude of sullen stupor. On setting them at liberty, the rat bounded towards the nearest fence ; but quick as light- ning it was followed by its pursuer, wliich seized it before it could gain the hedge, through which 1 saw the snake glide with its victim in its jaws. Another indigenous variety of the rat is that which made its appearance for the first time in the coffee plan- tations on the Kandyan hills in the year 1847, and in such swarms does it infest them, that as many as a thou- sand have been killed in a single day on one estate. In order to reach the buds and blossoms of the coffee, it cuts such slender branches, as would not sustain its weight, and feeds as they fall to the ground ; and so deli- cate and sharp are its incisors, that the twigs thus de- stroyed are detached by as clean a cut as if severed with a knife. The coffee-rat ^ is an insular variety of the Mus hirsutus of W. Elliot, found in Southern India. They ^ There are two species of the tree 1 ^ Corypliodon Bhimonbachii. rat in Ceylon : INI. rufescens, Gra;/ ; ^ Golimda EUioti, Grai/. (M. flavescens, Elliot ;) and Mus ne- moralis, lilyth. 1 L 3 150 ZOOLOGY. [Part IT. inhabit the forests, making their nests among the roots of the trees, and hke the lemmings of Norway and Lapkind, they migrate in vast numbers on the occmTence of a scarcity of their ordinary food. The Makxbar coohes are so fond of their flesh, that they evince a preference for those districts in which the coffee plantations are subject to these incm^sions, where they fry the rats in oil, or convert them into curry. Bandicoot — Another favourite article of food with the coolies is the pig-rat or Bandicoot ^, which attains on those hills the weight of two or three pounds, and grows to nearly the length of two feet. As it feeds on grain and roots, its flesh is said to be dehcate, and much resem- bhng young pork. Its nests, when rifled, are frequently found to contain considerable quantities of rice, stored up against the dry season. Porciqnne. — The Porcupine^ is another of the i^odentia which has drawn down upon itself the hostility of the planters, from its destruction of the young coco-nut palms, to which it is a pernicious and persevering, but withal so crafty, a visitor, that it is with difficulty any trap can be so disguised, or any bait made so alluring, as to lead to its capture. The usual expedient is to place some of its favomite food at the extremity of a trench, so narrow as to prevent the porcupine turning, whilst the dh-ection of his quills effectually bars his retreat. On a newly planted coco-nut tope, at Hang-welle, within a few miles of Colombo, I have heard of as many as twenty-seven being thus captured in a single night ; but such success is rare. The more ordinary expedient is to smoke them out by burning straw at the apertures of their burrows. The flesh is esteemed a delicacy in Ceylon, and in con- sistency, colour, and flavour, it very much resembles that of a young pig. 1 Mus bandicota, Beckst. The En- glish term bandicoot is a corruption of the Telinga name pamUkoku, lite- rally phj-rat. 2 Hystrix leucurus, f^ykes. CuAP. I.] THE PENGOLIX. 151 V. Edentata. Pengolin. — Of the Edentata tlie only example in Ceylon is the scaly ant-eater, called by the Singhalese, Caballaya, but usually known by its Malay name of Pengolin^, a word indicative of its faculty of " roUing itself up " into a compact ball, by bending its head towards its stomach, arching its back into a circle, and securing all by a powerfid fold of its mail- covered tail. The feet of the pengolin are armed with powerfid claws, which they double in in walking like the ant-eater of Brazil. These they use in extracting their favourite food, the termites, from ant-hills and decaying wood. When at Hberty, they bm^roAV in tlie dry ground to a depth of seven or eight feet, where they reside in pairs, and produce annually one or two young. Of two specimens which I kept ahve at different times, one from the vicinity of Kandy, about two feet in length, was a gentle and aflectionate creature, which, after wandering over the house in search of ants, would attract attention to its wants by chmbing up my knee, laying hold of my leg with its prehensile tail. The other, more than double that length, was caught m the jungle near Chilaw, and brought to me in Colombo. I had always understood that the pengolin was unable to chmb trees ; but the one last mentioned frequently ascended a tree in my garden, in search of ants, and this it effected by means of its hooked feet, aided by an oblique grasp of the tail. The ants it seized by extending its round and glutinous tongue along theu^ tracks. In both, the scales of the back were a cream-coloured white, with a tinge of red in the specimen which came from Chilaw, probably acquired by the insinuation of the Cabook dust which abounds alono- the western coast of the island. Generally speaking, they were quiet during the day, and grew restless as evening and night approached. YI. EuMiXANTiA. The Gaur. — Besides the deer and ^ Manis pentadactyla, Linn. L 4 152 ZOOLOGY. [Part IT. some varieties of the humped ox, which have been in- troduced from the opposite continent of India, Ceylon has probably but one other indigenous ruminant, the buffalo.^ There is a tradition that the gaur, found in the extremity of the Indian peninsula, was at one period a native of the Kandyan mountains ; but as Knox speaks of one which in his time " was kept among the king's creatures " at Kandy^, and his account of it talhes with that of the Bos Gaurus of Hindustan, it would appear even then to have been a rarity. A place between Neuera-eUia and Adam's Peak bears the name of Gowra-eUia, and it is not impossible that the animal may yet be discovered in some of the imperfectly ex- plored regions of the island.^ I have heard of an in- stance in which a very old Kandyan, residing in the mountains near the Horton Plains, asserted that when young he had seen what he behoved to have been a gam-, and which he described as between an ell?; and a buffalo in size, dark brown in colour, and very scantily provided with hau-. Oxen.- — Oxen are used by the peasantry both in plougliing and in tempering the mud in the wet paddi fields before sowing the rice ; and when the harvest is reaped they " tread out the corn," after the immemorial custom of the East. The wealth of the native chiefs and landed proprietors frequently consists in then- herds of bullocks, wliich they hire out to their dependents during the seasons for agricultural labour ; and as they akeady supply them with land to be tilled, and lend the seed which is to crop it, the further contribution of this portion of the labour serves to render the dependence of the peasantry on the chiefs and head-men complete. The cows are worked equally with the oxen ; and ^ Bubaliis biifFelus, Gray. ^ Historical Relation of Ceylon, ^-c., A.D. 1G81. Book i. c. 6. 3 KJELAAET, Fauna Zcylan., p. 87. Chap. I.] OXEN. 153 as the calves are always permitted to suck tliem, milk is an article wliicli the traveller can rarely hope to procure in a Kandyan village. From their con- stant exposure at all seasons, the cattle in Ceylon, both those employed in agriculture and on the roads, are subject to the most devastating murrains, which sweep them away by thousands. So frequent is the reciurrence of these calamities, and so extended their ravages, that they exercise a serious influence over the commercial interests of the colony, by reducing the facilities of an;riculture, and auo-mentino; the cost of carriage diu-ing the most critical periods of the coffee season. A similar disorder, probably peripneumonia, fre- quently carries off the cattle in Assam and other hill countries on the continent of India; and there, as in Ceylon, the inflammatory symptoms in the lungs and throat, and the internal derangement and external eruptive appearances, seem to indicate that the disease is a feverish influenza, attributable to neglect and ex- posure in a moist and variable chmate ; and that its prevention might be hoped for, and the cattle preserved by the simple expedient of more humane and conside- rate treatment, especially by affording them cover at night. During my residence in Ceylon an incident occiuTcd at Neuera-elha, which invested one of these pretty animals with an heroic interest. A httle cow, belong- ing to an Enghsh gentleman, was housed, together with her calf, near the dwelling of her owner, and being aroused during the night by her furious bellowing, the servants, on hastening to the stall, found her goring a leopard, which had stolen in to attack the calf She had got him into a corner, and whilst lowing incessantly to call for help, she continued to pound him with her horns. The wild animal, apparently stupified by her unexpected violence, Avas detained by her till despatched by a gun. 154 -ZOOLOGY. [Part II. The Buffalo. — Buffaloes abound in all parts of Ceylon, but tliey are only to be seen in their native wildness in the vast sohtudes of the northern and eastern provinces, where rivers, lagoons, and dilapidated tanks abound. In these they dehght to immerse themselves, till only their heads appear above the surface ; or, enveloped in mud to protect themselves from the assaults of insects, luxuriate in the long sedges by the water margins. Wlien the buffalo is browsing, a crow will fre- quently be seen stationed on his back, engaged in freeing it from the ticks and other pests which attach themselves to his leathery hide, the smooth brown sur- face of which, unprotected by hair, shines with an un- pleasant pohsh in the sunhght. When in motion he throws back his clumsy head till the huge horns rest on his shoulders, and the nose is presented in a hne with the eyes. When wild they are at all times uncer- tain in disposition, but so frequently savage that it is never quite safe to approach them, if disturbed in their pasture or alarmed from their repose in the shal- low lakes. On such occasions they hurry into hne, draw up in defensive array, with a few of the oldest bulls in advance ; and, wheeling in circles, theu" horns clashing with a loud sound as they clank them together in their rapid evolutions, the herd betakes itself to flight. Then forming again at a safer distance, they halt as before, elevating their nostrils, and throw- ing back, then- heads to take a cautious survey of the in- truders. The sportsman rarely molests them, so huge a creature affording no worthy mark for his skill, and their wanton slaughter adchng nothing to the supply of food for their assailant. In the Hambangtotte country, where the Singhalese domesticate the buffaloes, and use them to assist in the labour of the rice lands, the villagers are much annoyed by the wild ones, which nimgle with the tame when sent out to the woods to pasture ; and it constantly CnAP. I.] BUFFALOES. 155 liappens that a savage stranger, placing himself at the head of the tame herd, resists the attempts of the owners to drive them homewards at sunset. In the districts of Putlam and the Seven Corles, buffaloes are generally used for draught; and in carrying heavy loads of salt from the coast towards the interior, they drag a cart over roads which would defy the weaker strength of bullocks. In one place between Batticaloa and Trincomalie I found the natives making an ingenious use of them when engaged in shooting water-fowl in the vast salt marshes and muddy lakes. Being an object to which the buxls are accustomed, tlie Singhalese train the buffalo to the sport, and, concealed behind, the animal browsing hstlessly along, they guide it by ropes attached to its horns, and thus creep undiscovered within shot of the flock. The same practice prevails, I believe, in some of the northern parts of India, where they are similarly trained to assist the sportsman in ap- proaching deer. One of these " sporting buffldoes " sells for a considerable sum. The bufflxlo, like the elk, is sometimes found in Ceylon as an albino, with purely white hair and pink iris. There is a peculiarity in the formation of its foot, wdiich, though it must have attracted attention, I have never seen mentioned by naturahsts. It is equiva- lent to an arrangement that distinguishes the foot of the reindeer from that of the stag and the antelope. In them, the hoofs, being constructed for lightness and flight, are compact and vertical ; but, in the rein- deer, the joints of the tarsal bones admit of lateral expansion, and the broad hoofs curve upwards in front, while the two secondary ones behind (which are but slightly developed in the fallow deer and others of the same family) are prolonged tiU, in certain positions, they are capable of being applied to the ground, thus adding to the circumference and sustaining power of the foot. It has been usually suggested as the probable 156 ZOOLOGY. [Part IT. design of this structure, that it is to enable the reindeer to shovel under the snow in order to reach the lichens be- neath it ; but I apprehend that another use of it has been overlooked, that of facihtating its movements in search of food by increasing the difficulty of its sinking in the snow. A formation precisely analogous in the buffalo seems to point to a corresponding design. The ox, whose life is spent on firm ground, has the bones of the foot so constructed as to afford the most sohd support to an animal of its great weight ; but in the buffalo, which dehghts in the morasses on the margins of pools and rivers, the formation of the foot resembles 'that of the reindeer. The tarsi in front extend almost horizontally from the upright bones of the leg, and spread Avidely on touching the ground ; the hoofs are flattened and broad, with the extremities turned up- wards ; and the false hoofs descend behind till, in walk- ing, they make a clattering sound. In traversing the marshes, this combination of abnormal incidents serves to give extraordinary breadth to the foot, and not only pre- vents the buffalo from sinking inconveniently in soft ground^, but at the same time presents no obstacle to the withdrawal of his foot from the mud. Deer. — " Deer," says the truthful old chronicler, Eobert Knox, " are in great abundance in the woods, from the largeness of a cow to the smallness of a hare, for here is a creature in this land no bigger than the latter, though every part rightly resembleth a deer : it is called meminna, of a grey colour, with white spots and good meat."^ The httle creatm^e which thus dwelt in the recollection of the old man, as one of the memo- ^ Professor O^ven has noticed a similar fact regardin. I.] ELK. 157 rials of his long captivity, is the small "nuisk deer"^ so called in India, although neither sex is provided with a musk-bag ; and the Europeans in Ceylon know it by the name of the moose deer. Its extreme length never reaches two feet ; and of those which were domesticated about my house, few exceeded ten inches in height, therr graceful hmbs being of similar dehcate propor- tion. It possesses long and extremely large tusks, with which it inflicts a severe bite. The interpreter moodhar of Negombo had a milk white meminna in 1847, which he designed to send home as an acceptable present to Her Majesty, but it was unfortunately killed by an accident.^ Ceylon Elk. — In the mountains, the Ceylon elk ^, which reminds one of the red deer of Scotland, attains the heis2;ht of foirr or five feet : it abounds in all places wliich are intersected by shady rivers ; where, though its hunting affords an endless resource to the sportsmen, its venison scarcely equals in quahty the inferior beef of the loAvland ox. In the glades and park-hke openings that diversify the great forests of the interior, the spotted Axis troops in herds as numerous as the faUow deer in England ; and, in journeys through the jungle, when often dependent on the guns of our party for the precarious supply of the table, we found the flesh of the Axis* and the Muntjac^ a sorry substi- tute for tliat of the pea-fowl, the jungle-cock, and flamingo. The occiu-rence of albinos is very frequent * Moschus meminna. ^ AMien tlie English took possession of Kandy, in 1803, they foimd " five beautiful milk-white deer in the palace, which was noted as a very extraordinary thing." — Letter in Ap- pendix to Pekcival's Ceylon, p. 428. The wTiter does not say of what species they were. ^ Rusa Aristotelis. Dr. Gkat has lately shown that this is the great a.nsoi Cuvier. — Oss. Fuss. 502, t. 30, f. 10. The Singhalese, on following the elk, frequently eifect their ap- proaches by so imitating the call of the animal as to induce them to re- spond. An instance occm-red during my residence in Ceylon, in which two natives, whose mimicry had mutually deceived them, crept so close toge- ther in the jmigle that one shot the other, supposing the cry to proceed from the game. 2 Axis maculata, H. Smith. ^ Stylocerus mimtjac, Ilorsf. 158 ZOOLOGY. [Part II. in troops of tlie axis. Deer's horns are an article of export from Ceylon, and considerable quantities are annually sent to the United Kingdom. VII. Pachydermata. The Elepliant — The elephant and the wild boar, the Singhalese "waloora," are the only representatives of the pachydermatous order. The latter, which differs in no respect from the wild boar of India, is found in droves in all parts of the island where vegetation and water are abundant. The elephant, the lord paramount of the Ceylon forests, is to be met with in every district, on the confines of the woods, in whose depths he finds concealment and shade during the hours when the sun is high, and from which he emerges only at twihght to wend his way towards the rivers and tanks, where he luxuriates till dawn, when he again seeks the retirement of the deep forests. This noble animal fills so dignified a place both in the zoology and oeconomy of Ceylon, and his habits in a state of nature have been so much misunderstood, that I shall devote a separate section to his defence from misrepresentation, and to an exposition of what, from observation and experience, I believe to be his genuine character when free in his native domains. VIII. Cetacea. — Among the Cetacea the occur- rence of the Dugong ^ on various points of the coast, and especiaUy on the western side of the island, will be noticed elsewhere ; and whales are so frequently seen that they have been captured within sight of Colombo, and more than once their carcases, after having been flinched by the whalers, have floated on shore near the hght-house, tainting the atmosphere within the fort by their rapid decomposition. From this sketch of the Mammaha it will be seen that, in its general features, this branch of the Fauna bears a striking resemblance to that of Southern India, although many of the larger animals of the latter are ^ Halicore dugong, F. Cuv. ClJAP. I.] THE GAUE. 159 unknown in Ceylon ; and, on the other liand, some spe- cies discovered there are altogether pecuhar to the island. A deer' as large as the Axis, but differing from it in the number and arrangement of its spots, has been de- scribed by Dr. Kelaart, to whose vigilance the natural history of Ceylon is indebted, amongst others, for the identification of two new species of monkeys ^, a number of ciurious shrews ^, and an orange-coloured ichneumon ^, before unknown. There are also two descriptions of squirrels^ that have not as yet been discovered elsewhere, one of them belonging to those equipped with a para- chute ^, as well as some local varieties of the palm squirrel (Sciurus penicillatus. Leach)? But the Ceylon Mammaha, besides wantmg a num- ber of minor annuals found in the Indian peninsula, cannot boast such a ruminant as the majestic Gaiu"^, which inhabits the great forests from Cape Comorin to the Himalaya ; and, pro\identially, the island is equally free of the formidable tio-er and the ferocious wolf of Hindustan. The Hyena and Cheetah ^, common in Southern India, are unknown in Ceylon ; and though abundant in deer, the island possesses no example of the Antelope or the Gazelle. List of Ceylon Mammalia. A list of the Mammalia of Ceylon is subjoined. In framing it, as well as the lists appended to other chapters on the Fauna of the island, the principal object in view has been to exhibit the extent to which its natural history had been investigated. ^ Cervus orizus, Kelaakt, Prod. F. Zeyl, p. 83. 2 Presbytes ursinus, Blyth, and P. Thersites, EUiof. 3 Sorex montanus, S. feiTugineus, and Ferocidiis macropus. * Herpestes fidvescens, Ivelaakt, Prod. Fann. Zei/lan., App. p. 42. ^ Sciurus Tennentii, Lmjard. •^ Sciiu-opterus Layardi, Kdaart. '^ There is a rat found only in the Cinnamon Gardens at Colombo, Mus Ceylonus, Kelaart ; and a mouse which Dr. Kelaart discovered at Trin- conialie, I\I. fidvidi-venti'is, Blyth, both peculiar to Ceylon. Dr. Tem- PLETOX has noticed a little shrew (Corsira purpm-ascens, ^laq. Nat. Hist. 1855, p. 238) at Neuera-ellia, not as yet observed elsewhere. * Bos cavifrons, Ilodys. ; B. fron- talis, Lamb. ^ Felis jubata, Schrcb. IGO ZOOLOGY. [Part II. and collections made up to the period of my leaving the colony in 1850. It has been considered expedient to exclude a few individuals which have not had the advantage of a direct com- parison with authentic specimens, either at Calcutta or in Encfland. This will account for the omission of a number which have appeared in other catalogues, but of which many, though ascertained to exist, have not been submitted to this rigorous process of identification. The greater portion of the species of mammals and birds con- tained in these lists will be found, with suitable references to the most accurate descriptions, in the admirable catalogue of the collection at the India House, now in course of publication under the care of Dr. Horsfield. This work cannot be too highly extolled, not alone for the scrupulous fidelity with which the description of each species is referred to its first discoverer, but also for the pains which have been taken to elaborate synonymes and to collate from local periodicals and other sources, little accessible to ordinary inquirers, such incidents and traits as are calculated to illustrate characteristics and habits. Quadrumana. Presbytes cephalopterus, Zimtn. ursinus, BIyth. Priamus, Elliot ^ Bhjth. Thersites, Blyth. Macacus pileatus, Shaw §- Dcsm. Loris gracilis, Geoff. Cheiroptera. Pteropus Edwardsii, Geoff. Lcschenaultii, Dum. Cynopterus marginatus, Hamilt. IMcgaderma spasma, Linn. lyra, Geoff. Rhinolophus affinis, Horsf. Hipposideros murinus, Elliot. speoris, Elliot. armiger, HoJys. vulgaris, Horn/. Kcrivoula picta, Pall. Taphozous longimanus, Hardw. Scotophilus Cororaandclicus, F. Cuv. adversHS, Horsf. Tcmmiiikii, Horsf. Tickelli, Blylh. Heathii. Carnivora. Sorex cccrulcsccns, Shaw. fcrnigiticus, Kelaart. scrpeiitarius, Is. Geoff'. montivuus, Kelaart. Ferocultis macropus, Kelaart. Ursus labiatns, Blainv. Lutra nair, F. Cuv. Canis aureus, Linn. Viverra Indica, Geoff., Hodgs. Cynictis Maccarthise, Gray. Ilcrpestes vltticoUis, Benn. gviseus, Gm. Sniithii, Gray. fulvcscens, Kelaart. Paradoxurus typus, F. Cuv. Ceylonicus, Fall. Felis pardus, Linn. chaus, Guldens. viverrinus, Benn. Rodentia. Sciurus macrurus, Forst. Tennentii, Layard. penicillatus, Leach. trilineatus, Waterh. Sciuropterus Layardi, Kelaart. Pteromys pctaurista. Pall. Mus bandicota, Bechst Kok, Gray. rufescens, Gray. nciiioralis, Blylh. Indicus. Geoff. fulvidiventris, Blyth. Nesoki Hardwickii, Gray. Golunda Ncucra, Kelaart. Elliot!, Gray. Gcrbillus ludicus, Hardw. CuAr. I.] NYCTERIBIA. 161 I.cpus nigricollis, F. Cuv. llystrix Icucurus, Sykes. Edentata. Manis pentadactyla, Lmi. Facbydermata. Elcphas Indicus, Linn. Sus Indicus, Grai/. Zeylonicus, Blyth. Ruminantia. IMoschus meminna, Erxl. Stylocerus muntjac, Hor&f. Axis maculata, H. Smith. Rusa Aristotelis, Cuv. Cetacea. Ilalicorc dugung, F, Cuv, NOTE (A.) Parasite of the Bat. One of the most curious peculiarities connected with the bats is their singular parasite, the Nycteribia.^ On cursory obser- vation, this creature appears to have neither head, antennae, eyes, nor mouth ; and the earlier observers of its structure assured themselves that the place of the latter was supplied by a cylin- drical sucker, which, being placed between the shoulders, the creature had no option but to turn on its back to feed. This ap- parent inconvenience was thought to have been compensated for by another anomaly : its three pairs of legs, armed with claws, being so arranged that they seemed to be equally distributed over its upper and under sides, the creature being thus enabled to use them like hands, and to grasp the strong hairs above it while extracting its nourishment. It moves by rolling itself rapidly along, rotating like a wheel on the extremities of its spokes, or like the clown in a pantomime hurling himself forward on hands and feet alternately. Its celerity is so great that Colonel Montague, who was one of the first to describe it minutely-, says its speed exceeds that of any known insect, and as its joints are so flexible as to yield in every direction (like what mechanics call a "ball and socket"), its motions are exceed- ingly grotesque as it tumbles through the fur of the bat. To enable it to attain its marvellous velocity, each foot ia ' This extraordinary creatiu'e had foniierly been discovered only on a few European bats. Joinvillc figured one which he found on the large roussette (the flying-fox), and says he had seen another on a bat of the same family. Dr. Templeton observed VOL. I. them in Ceylon in great abundance on the fur of the Scofophilus Coro- mamleJicus, and they will, no doubt, be found on many others. 2 Celeripes vespertilionis, Mont, Lin. Trans, xi. p. 11, M 162 ZOOLOGY. [Part II. armed with two sharp hooks, with elastic pads opposed to them, so that the hair can not only be rapidly seized and firmly held, but as quickly disengaged as the creature whirls away in its headlong career. The insects to which it bears the nearest affinity are the Hippoboscidce, or "spider flies," that infest birds and horses, but, unlike them, it is unable to fly. Its strangest peculiarity, and that which gave rise to the belief that it is headless, is its faculty when at rest of throwing back its head and pressing it close between its shoulders till the under side becomes uppermost, not a vestige of head being dis- cernible where we would naturally look for it, and the whole seeming but a casual inequality on its back. On closer examination this apparent tubercle is found to have a leathery attachment like a flexible neck, and by a sud- den jerk the little creature is enabled to project it forward into its normal position, when it is discovered to be furnished with a mouth, antennae, and four eyes, two on each side. The organisation of such an insect is a marvellous adaptation of physical form to special circumstances. As the nycteribia has to make its way through fur and hairs, its feet are furnished with prehensile hooks that almost convert them into hands; and being obliged to conform to the sudden flights of its patron, and accommodate itself to inverted positions, all attitudes are rendered alike to it by the arrangement of its limbs, which enables it, after every possible gyration, to find itself always on its feet. 103 CHAP. 11. BIEDS. Op tlie Birds of tlie island, upwards of three hundred and twenty species have been indicated, for which we are indebted to the persevering labours of Dr. Temple- ton, Dr. Kelaart, and Mr. Layard; but many yet remain to be identified. In fact, to the eye of a stranger, their prodigious numbers, and especially the myriads of waterfowl which, notwithstanding the pre- sence of the crocodiles, people the lakes and marshes in the eastern provinces, form one of the marvels of Ceylon. In the glory of their plumage, the birds of the inte- rior are surpassed by those of South America and Northern India ; and the melody of their song wiU bear no comparison with that of the warblers of Europe, but the want of brilliancy is compensated by thek^ singular grace of form, and the absence of prolonged and modu- lated harmony by the rich and melodious tones of their clear and musical calls. In the elevations of the Kan- dyan country there are a few, such as the robin of Neuera-ellia ^ and the long-tailed thrush''^, whose song rivals that of their European namesakes ; but, far be- yond the attraction of their notes, the traveller rejoices in the flute-like voices of the Oriole, the Dayal-bird ^, and some others equaUy charming ; when, at the first dawn of day, they wake the forest with their clear reveille. It is only on emerging from the dense forests, and ^ Pratincola atrata, Kelaart. ^ Kittacincla macroura, Gm. ^ Copsycluis saularis, Linn. Called by the Em-opeans iu Ceylon tlie ** Magpie llobin." This is not to be confoimded with the other popular favourite; the "Indian Robin" (Thanmobia fulicata, i/ww.), which is "never seen in the unfrequented jungle, but, like the coco-nut palm, which the Singhalese assert will only flourish within the soimd of the hunuui voice, it is always found near the habi- tations of men," — E. L. Layakd. M 2 164 ZOOLOGY. [Part II. coming into tlie vicinity of the lakes and pasture of the low country, that birds become visible in great quanti- ties. In the close jungle one occasionally hears the call of the copper-smith \ or the strokes of the great orange- coloured woodpecker^ as it beats the decaying trees in search of insects, whilst chnging to the bark with its finely-pointed claws, and leaning for support upon the short stiff feathers of its tail. And on the lofty branches of the higher trees, the hornbill^ (the toucan of the East), with its enormous double casque, sits to watch the motions of the tiny reptiles and smaller bhds on which it preys, tossing them into the au" when seized, and catching them in its gigantic mandibles as they fall.^ The remarkable excrescence on the beak of this extraordinary bird may serve to explain the statement of the Minorite friar Odoric, of Portenau in Friidi, who travelled in Ceylon in the fourteentli century, and brought suspicion on the veracity of his narrative by asserting that he had there seen " birds with two heads'' ^ As we emerge from the deep shade and approach the ^ The gi-eater red-lieaded Barbet (Megalaima indica, Lath. ; M. Phi- lippensis, var. A. Lath.), the incessant din of whicli resembles the blows of a smith hammering a cauldron. ^ BracliA^ternus aurantius, Linn, ^ Buceros pica, Scoj}. ; B. coro- nata, Bodd. The natives assert that B. pica builds in holes in the trees, and that when incubation has fairly commenced, the female takes her seat on the eggs, and the male closes up the orifice by which she entered, leaving only a small aperture through which he feeds his partner, whilst she successfidly guards their trea- sures from the monkey tribes ; her formidable bill nearlj^ tilling the en- tire entrance. See a paper by Edgar L. Layard, Esq. il/c/r/. Nat. Ilist. March,' 185-3. Dr. Horsfield had previously observed the same habit in a species of Buceros in Java. (See HoKSFiELD and Moore's Catal. Bink, E. I. Comp. Mus. vol. ii.) It is curious that a similar trait, though necessarily fi-om veiy different in- stincts, is exhibited by the termites, who literally build a cell round the gi'eat progenitrix of the community, and feed her through apertures. * The hornbill is also frugivorous, and the natives assert that when en- deavouring to detach a fruit, if the stem is too tough to be severed by his mandibles, he flings himself off the branch so as to add the weight of his body to the pressure of his beak. The hornbill alwunds in Cut- tack, and bears there the name of " Kuchila-Kai," or Kuchila-eater, from its partiality for the fruit of the Stiychnus nux-vomica. The natives regard its flesh as a sovereign specific for rheumatic aflections. — Asiat. Res. ch. XV. p. 184 ^ Itinerarius Fratkis Odorici, de Foro Julii de Portu-vahonis. — Hak- lUYT, vol. ii. p. 39. Cii.vr. II.] SWALLOWS. 10.& park-like openings on the verge of tlie low country, quantities of pea-fowl are to be found either feeding amongst the seeds and nuts in the long grass or sunning themselves on the branches of the surrounding trees. Nothing to be met witli in demesnes in England can give an adequate idea either of the size or the magni- ficence of this matchless bird when seen in his native solitudes. Here he generally selects some projecting branch, from which his plumage may hang free of the fohage, and, if there be a dead and leafless bough, he is certain to choose it for his resting-place, whence he droops his wings and suspends his gorgeous train, or spreads it in the morning sun to drive off the damps and dews of the night. In some of the unfrequented portions of the eastern province, to which Europeans rarely resort, and where the pea-fowl are unmolested by the natives, their number is so extraordinary that, regarded as game, it ceases to be " sport " to destroy them ; and their cries at early morning are so tumultuous and incessant as to banish sleep, and amount to an actual inconvenience. Then- flesh is excellent when served up hot, though it is said to be indigestible ; but, when cold, it contracts a reddish and disagreeable tinge. But of all, the most astonishing in point of multitude, as weh as the most interesting from their endless va- riety, are the myriads of aquatic birds and waders which frequent the lakes and watercourses; especially those along the coast near Batticaloa, between the mainland and the sand formations of the shore, and the innumerable salt marshes and lagoons to the south of Trincomalie. These, and the profusion of perching birds, fly-catchers, finches, and thrushes, which appear in the open country, afford sufficient quarry for the raptorial and predatory species — eagles, hawks, and falcons— whose daring sweeps and effortless undulations are striking objects in the cloudless sky. M 3 166 ZOOLOGY. [Part II I. AcciPiTRES. Eagles. — The Eagles, however, are small, and as compared with other countries rare ; ex- cept, perhaps, the crested eagle \ which haunts the mountain provinces and the lower hills, disquieting the peasantry by its ravages amongst their poultry ; and the gloomy serpent eagle ^, which, descending from its eyrie in the lofty jungle, and uttering a loud and plaintive cry, sweeps cautiously around the lonely tanks and marshes, where it feeds upon the reptiles on their margin. The largest eagle is the great sea Erne^, seen on the northern coasts and the salt lakes of the eastern provinces, particularly when the receding tide leaves bare an expanse of beach, over which it hunts, in company with the fishing eagle ^, sacred to Siva. Unhke its companions, however, the sea eagle rejects garbage for hving prey, and especiaUy for the sea Snakes which abound on the northern coasts. These it seizes by descending with its wings half closed, and, suddenly darting down its talons, it soars aloft agam with its Avrithing victim.^ Hawks. — The beautiful Peregrine Falcon ^ is rare, but the Kestrel '' is found almost universally ; and the bold and daring Goshawk^ wherever wild crags and precipices afford safe breeding places. In the dis- trict of Anarajapoora, where it is trained for hawking, it is usual, in heu of a hood, to darken its eyes by means of a silken thread passed through holes in the eyehds. The ignoble bu-ds of prey, the Kites ^, keep close by the ' Spizaetus limnaetus, Horsf. ^ Ilsematomis clieela, Daud. 3 Pontoaetus leucogaster, Gmel. * Haliastur indiis, Bodd. ^ E. L. Layard. Europeans liave given this bird the name of the " Brahminy Kite," probably from ob- serving the superstitious feeling of the natives regarding it, who believe that when two armies are about to engage, its appearance prognosticates victory to the party over whom it hovers. ^ Falco peregruius, Linn. '' Tinnunculus alaudarius, Briss. ^ Astur trivirgatus, Jemm. ^ Milvus goviuda, Sykes. Dr. Hamilton Buchanan remarks that when gorged this bird delights to sit on the entablature of buildings, expo- sing its back to the hottest rays of the sun, placing its breast against the wall, and stretching out its wings exactly as the Eyyptian Hawh is re- presented on their monuments. ClIAF. II.] SWALLOWS. 167 shore, and hover round the returning boats of the fisher- men to feast on the fry rejected from their nets. Olds. — Of the nocturnal accipitres the most remark- able is the brown owl, wliich, from its hideous yell, has acquired the name of the " Devil-Bird." ^ The Singhalese regard it literally with horror, and its scream by night in the vicinity of a village is bewailed as the harbinger of approaching calamity. n. Passeres. Swallows. — Within thirty-five miles of Caltura, on the western coast, are inland caves, the resort of the Esculent Swift ^, Avhich there builds the " edible bhd's nest," so highly prized in China. Near the spot a few Chinese immigrants have esta- bhshed themselves, who rent the royalty from the government, and make an annual export of theu' pro- duce. But the Swifts are not confined to this district, and caves containing them have been found far in the interior, a fact which comphcates the still unexplained mystery of the composition of thek nest ; and notwith- ^ SjTnium indranee, Sykes. The hon-or of this nocturnal scream was eqvially prevalent in the West as in the East. Ovid introduces it in his Fasti, L. vi. 1. 139 ; and Tibullus in his Elegies, L. i. El. 5. Statins says — " Nocturnae-que gemmit striges, et feraliabubo Daiina cnnciis." Theb. iii. 1. 511 . But Pliny, 1. xi. c. 93, doubts as to what bird produced the soimd ; and the details of Ovid's description do not apply to an owl. Mr. Mitford, of the Ceylon Civil Service, to whom I am indebted for many valuable notes relative to the birds of the island, regards the iden- tification of the Singhalese Devil-Eia-d as open to similar doubt : he says — " The Devil-Bird is not an owl. I never heard it imtil I came to Korne- galle, where it hamits the rocky hill at the back of Government-House. Itsordinaiynoteis a magnificent clear shout like that of a human being, and which can be heard at a gTeat dis- tance, and has a fine effect in the silence of the closing night. It has another cry like that of a hen just caught, but the sounds which have earned for it its bad name, and which I have heard but once to perfection, are indescribable, the most appalling that can be imagined, and scarcely to be heard -without shuddering ; I can only compare it to a boy in tortiu-e, whose screams are being stopped by being strangled. I have offered re- wards for a specimen, but without success. The only European who had seen and fired at one agreed with the natives that it is of the size of a pigeon, with a long tail. I believe it is a Podargus or Night Hawk." In a subsequent note he further says — " I have since seen two birds by moonlight, one of the size and shape of a cuckoo, the other a large black bird, which I imagine to be the one which gives these calls.'' ^ CoUocalia brevirostris, 3IcClelL: C. nidifica, G'rai/. M 4 168 ZOOLOGY. [Part II. standing the power of wing possessed by these birds, adds something to the difficulty of behoving that it consists of ghitinous alg£e.^ In the nests brought to me there was no trace of organisation ; and whatever may be the origi- nal material, it is so elaborated by the swallow as to pre- sent somewhat the appearance and consistency of strings of isinglass. The quantity of these nests exported from Ceylon is trifling. Kingfishers. — In sohtary places, where no sound breaks the silence except the gurgle of the river as it sweeps round the rocks, the lonely Kingfisher sits upon an over- hanging branch, his turquoise plumage hardly less intense in its lustre than the deep blue of the sky above him ; and so intent is his watch upon the passing fish that in- trusion fails to scare him from his post ; the emblem of vigilance and patience. Sun Birds. — In the gardens the Sun Bk-ds^ (known as the Humming Bkds of Ceylon) hover all day long, attracted by the plants over wluch they hang, poised on their ghttering wings, and inserting their curved beaks to extract the tiny insects that nestle in the flowers. Perhaps the most graceful of the buxls of Ceylon in form and motions, and the most chaste in coloming, is that which Europeans caU " the Bird of Paradise,"^ and the natives " the Cotton Thief," from the circumstance that its tail consists of two long white feathers, which stream belund it as it flies. Mr. Layard says : — " I have often watched them, when seeking their insect prey, turn suddenly on their perch and lohisk their long tails with a jerk over the bough, as if to protect them fi'om injury." The Biilhul. — The Condatchee Bidbul^, which, from ^ An epitome of what lias been written on this subject will be found in Dr. HorsfieliT s Catalogue of the Birds in the E. I. Comp. Museuni; vol. i. p. 101, etc. "^ Nectarina Zeylanica, Linn. ^ Tchitrea paradisi, Linn. * Pycuonotus hcemorrhouS; Gmel. ClIAP. II.] BULBUL. 169 the crest on its head, is called by the Singhalese the " Konda Coorola," or Tuft bird, is regarded by the na- tives as the most '^ game" of all birds ; and tlie training it to fight was one of the dnties entrnsted by the Kings of Kandy to the Kooroowa, or Bird Head-man. For this purpose the Bulbul is taken from the nest as soon as the sex is distinguishable by the tufted crown ; and being secured by a string, is taught to fly from hand to hand of its keeper. Wlien pitted agamst an antagonist, such is the obstinate couras-e of this httle creature that it will sink fi-om exhaustion rather than release its hold. This propensity, and the ordinaiy character of its notes, render it impossible that the Bulbul of India can be identical Avith the Bulbul of Iran, the " Bird of a Thou- sand Songs," ^ of which poets say that its dehcate passion for the rose gives a plaintive character to its note. Tailor-Bird. — The Weaver-Bird. — The tailor-bird^ having completed her nest, sewing together the leaves by passing tlirough them a cotton thread twisted by the creature herself, leaps from branch to branch to testify her happiness by a clear and merry note ; and the Indian weaver^, a still more ingenious artist, having woven its dweUing with grass somethmg into the form of a bottle, with a prolonged neck, hangs it fi'om a pro- jecting branch with its entrance inverted so as to baffle the approaches of its enemies, the tree snakes and other reptiles. The natives assert that the male bhxl carries fire flies to the nest, fastening them to its sides by a particle of soft mud, and ]\ii\ Layard assures me that although he has never succeeded in finding the fire fly, ^ " Hazardmitaum" the Persian name for the bulbul. ''The Per- sians," according to Zakary ben Mo- hamed al Caswini, '' say "the bulbul has a passion for the rose, and la- ments and cries when he sees it pulled." — Ouseley's Oriental Collec- tions, vol. i. p. 16. According to Pallas it is the true nightingale of Europe, Syhaa lusciuia, which the Ai-menians call boulboul, and the Crim-Tai'tars hyl-hijl-i, ^ Orthotomus long-icauda, Gmel. 3 Ploceus baya, Blyth. ; P. Philip- pinus, Auct, 170 ZOOLOGY. [Part II. the nest of the male bird (for the female occupies another during incubation) invariably contains a patch of mud on each side of the perch. Crows. — Of all the Ceylon birds of this order the most famihar and notorious is the small glossy crow, whose shining black plumage shot with blue has obtained for him the title of Corvus splendens} They frequent the towns in companies, and domesticate themselves in the close vicinity of every house ; and it may possibly serve to account for the famiharity and audacity which they exhibit in their intercourse with men, that the Dutch during their sovereignty in Ceylon enforced severe penal- ties against any one Idlling a crow, under the behef that they are instrumental in extending the growth of cinna- mon by feechng on the fruit, and thus disseminating the undigested seed.^ So accustomed are the natives to its presence and ex- ploits, that, like the Greeks and Eomans, they have made the movements of the crow the basis of their auguries ; and there is no end to the vicissitudes of good and evil fortune which may not be predicted from the direction of their flight, the hoarse or mellow notes of their croaking, the variety of trees on which they rest, and the numbers in which they are seen to assemble. All day long they are engaged in watching either the offal of the offices, or the preparation for meals in the dining-room ; and as doors and windows are necessarily opened to reheve the heat, nothing is more common than the passage of crows across the room, hfting on the wing some ill-guarded morsel from the dinner-table. No article, however unpromising its quahty, pro- vided only it be portable, can with safety be left un- ^ Tliere is anotlier species, tlie C. ctdminatus, so called from the convexity of its bill ; but thougli seen in the towns, it lives chiefly in the open country, and may be con- stantly observed wherever there are buffaloes, perched on their backs and engaged, in company with the small Minah i^Acridotheres tristis), in free- ing them from ticks. ^ Wolf's Life and Adventures, p. 117. Chap. II.] CROWS. 171 guarded in any apartment accessible to them. The con- tents of ladies' work-boxes, kid gloves, and pocket hand- kerchiefs vanish instantly if exposed near a window or open door. They open paper parcels to ascertain the contents ; they will undo the knot on a napkin if it encloses anything eatable, and I have known a crow to extract the peg which fastened the Hd of a basket in order to plunder the provender within. On one occasion a nurse seated in a garden adjoining a regimental mess-room, was terrified by seeing a bloody clasp-knife drop from the air at her feet ; but the mys- tery was explained on learning that a crow, wliich had been watching the cook chopping mince-meat, had seized the moment when his head was tm-ned to carry off the knife. One of these ingenious marauders, after vainly atti- tudinising in front of a chained watch-dog, which was lazily gnawing a bone, and after fruitlessly endeavour- ing to divert his attention by dancing before him, mth head a^vry and eye askance, at length flew away for a moment, and returned bringing with it a companion '^vho perched itself on a branch a few yards in the rear. The crow's grimaces were now actively renewed, but with no better result, till its confederate, poising himself on his wings, descended with the utmost velocity, striking the dog upon the spine with all the force of his beak. The ruse was successful ; the dog started with sui-prise and pain, but not quickly enough to seize his assailant, whilst the bone he had been gnawdng disappeared the instant liis head was turned. Two well-authenticated instances of the recurrence of this device came within my knowledge at Colombo, and attest the sagacity and powers of communication and combination possessed by these astute and courageous birds. On the approach of evening the crows assemble in noisy groups along the margin of the fresh-water lake which surrounds Colombo on the eastern side ; here for an hour or two they enjoy the luxury of the bath, tossing 172 ZOOLOGY. [Part II. the water over tlieir shining backs, and arranging their plumage decorously, after which they disperse, each taking the direction of his accustomed quarters for the night. ^ During the storms which usher in the monsoon, it has been observed, that when coco-nut palms are struck by Hghtning, the destruction frequently extends beyond a single tree, and from the contiguity and conduction of the spreading leaves, or some other pecuhar cause, large groups will be affected by a single flash, a few killed instantly, and the rest doomed to rapid decay. In Belligam Bay, a httle to the east of Point-de-Galle, a small island, which is covered with coco-nuts, has acquired the name of " Crow Island, " from being the resort of those birds, wliich are seen hastening towards it in thousands towards sunset. A few years ago, during a violent storm of thunder, such was the destruction of the crows that the beach for some distance was covered with a black line of their remains, and the grove on which they had been resting was to a great extent destroyed by the same flash.^ III. ScANSOEES. Parroquets. — Of the Psittacidse the only examples are the parroquets, of which the most re- nowned is the Palceornis Alexandria wliich has the historic distinction of bearing the name of the great conquerer of India, having been the first of its race introduced to the knowledge of Europe on the return of his expedition. An idea of then- number may be formed from the fol- lowing statement of Mr. Layard, as to the multitudes which are found on the western coast. " At Chilaw I have seen such vast flights of parroquets coming to roost ^ A similar habit has been noticed in the damask Parrots of Africa (^Palcpoi-nis fusciis), which daily resort at the same hour to their accustomed water to bathe. ^ Similar instances are recorded in other coimtries of sudden mortality amongst crows to a prodigious ex- tent, but whether occasioned by lightning seems imcertain. In 1839 thirty-three thousand dead crows were found on the shores of a lake in the county Westmeath in Ireland after a storm. — Thompson's Nat. Ilisf. Ireland, vol. i. p. 319, and Pat- terson in his Zoology, p, 356, men- tions other cases. Chap. II.] PIGEONS. 173 in tlie coco-nut trees wliicli overhang the bazaar, that theu^ noise drowned the Babel of tongues bargaining for the evening provisions. Hearing of the swarms which resorted to this spot, I posted myself on a bridge some half mile distant, and attempted to count the flocks which came from a single dkection to the eastward. About fom' o'clock in the afternoon, stragghng parties began to wend towards home, and in the course of half an hoiu: the ciu'rent fairly set hi. But I soon found that I had no longer distinct flocks to count, it became one hving screaming stream. Some flew liigh in the air till right above their homes, and dived ab- ruptly downward with many evolutions till on a level with the trees ; others kept along the ground and dashed close by my face witli the rapidity of thouglit, thek brilliant plumage shining with an exquisite lustre in the sun-light. I waited on the spot till the evening closed, when I could hear, though no longer distinguish, the birds fighting for their perches, and on firing a shot they rose wiih a noise hke the ' rushing of a mighty wind,' but soon settled again, and such a din com- menced as I shall never forget ; the shrill screams of the birds, the fluttering of their innumerable wings, and the rusthng of the leaves of the palm trees, Avas almost deafening, and I was glad at last to escape to the Govern- ment Eest House. " ^ IV. CoLUMBiD^. Pigeons. — Of pigeons and doves there are at least a dozen species ; some hving entirely on trees ^ and never alighting on the ground ; others, notwithstanding the abundance of food and warmth, are migratory^, allured, as the Singhalese allege, by the ripening of the cmnamon berries, and hence one species is known in the southern pro\dnces as the " Cinnamon Dove." Others feed on the fruits of the banyan : and it is probably to their instrumentahty that this mar- ^ Annals of Nat. Hist. vol. xiii. I ^ Ahocomits puniceus, the " Season p. 263. I Pigeon " of Ceylon, so called from its ^ Treron bicincta, Jcrd. \ periodical anival and depai-titre. 174 ZOOLOGY. [Part TT. vellous tree cliiefly owes its diffusion, its seeds being carried by them to remote localities. A very beautiful pigeon, peculiar to the mountain range, discovered in the lofty trees at Neuera-elha, has, in comphment to the Vicountess Torrington, been named Carpophaga Torringionice. Another, called by the natives neela-coheya ^ , although strikingly elegant both in shape and colour, is still more remarkable far the singularly soothing effect of its low and harmonious voice. A gentleman who has spent many years in the jungle, in writing to me of this bird and of the effects of its melodious song, says, that "its soft and melancholy notes, as they came from some sohtary place in the forest, were the most gentle sounds I ever hstened to. Some sen- timental smokers assert that the influence of the pro- pensity is to make them feel as if they could freely forgive all who had ever offended them, and I can say with truth such has been the effect on my own nerves of the plaintive murmurs of the neela-cobeya, that sometimes, when irritated, and not without reason, by the perverseness of some of my native followers, the feeling has almost instantly subsided into placidity on suddenly hearing the loving tones of these beautiful bkds. " V. Galling. The Ceylon Jungle-fowl. — The jungle- fowl of Ceylon^ is shown by the pecuharity of its plumage to be distinct from the Indian species. It has never yet bred or survived long in captivity, and no hving specimens have been successfully transmitted to Europe. It abounds in all parts of the island, but chiefly in the lower ranges of mountains ; and one of the vivid memorials which are associated with our journeys through the liills, is its clear cry, which sounds like a person calhng " George Joyce. " At early morning it rises amidst mist and dew, giving * Chalcophaps Indicu=', Linn, ^ Gallus Lafayetti, Lesson. Chap. TT.] FLAMINGO. 175 life to tlie scenery that lias scarcely yet been touched by the sunlight. VI. Gkall^. — On reaching the marshy plains and shal- low lagoons on either side of the island, the astonishment of the stranger is excited by the endless multitudes of stilt- birds and waders which stand in long array within the wash of the water, or sweep in vast clouds above it. Ibises ^, storks ^, egrets, spoonbills ^, herons \ and the smaller races of sand larks and plovers, are seen busily traversing the wet sand, in search of the red worm which burrows there, or peering with steady eye to watch the motions of the small fry and aquatic insects in the ripple on the shore. Vn. Anseees. — Preeminent in size and beauty, the tall flamingoes ^, with rose-coloured plumage, hne the beach in long files. The Singhalese have been led, from their co- lour and their military order, to designate them the " English Soldier birds.'" Nothing can be more startling than the sudden flight of these splendid creatures when alarmed ; their strong wings beating the an* sound like distant thunder ; and as they soar over head, the flock which appeared almost white but a moment before, is con- verted mto crimson by the sudden display of the red lining of their wings. A peculiarity in the beak of the flamingo has scarcely attracted due attention, as a striking illustration of creative wisdom in adapting the organs of animals to their local necessities. The upper mandible, which is convex in other birds, is in them flattened, whilst the lower, instead of being flat, is convex. To those who have had an opportunity of witnessing the action of the bhxl in its native haunts, the expediency of this arrangement is at once apparent. The flamingo, to counteract the extraordinary length of its legs, is provided ^ Tantalus leucocephaliis, and Ibis falcinellus. «The violet-headed Stork (Ci- conia leucocephala). * Platalea leucorodia, Linn. * Ardea cinerea. A, purpurea. ^ Plicenicopterus roseus^ Pallas. 176 ZOOLOGY. [Part 11. with a proportionately long neck, so that in feeding in sliallow water the crown of the head becomes inverted and the upper mandible brought into contact with the bottom ; where its flattened surface quahfies it for per- forming the functions of the lower one in bu-ds of the same class ; and the edges of both being laminated, it is thus enabled, like the duck, by the aid of its fleshy tongue, to sift its food before swallowing. Floating on the surface of the deeper water, are fleets of the Anatid£e,theCoromandel teaP, the Indian hooded gull ^, the Caspian tern, and a countless variety of ducks and smaller fowl. Pehcans ^ in great numbers resort to the mouths of tlie rivers, taking up their position at sunrise on some projecting rock, from which to dart on the passing fish, and retiu-ning far inland at night to their retreats among the trees which overshadow some ruined water- course or deserted tank. Of the buxls famihar to European sportsmen, partridges and quails are to be had at all times ; the woodcock has occasionally been shot in the hills, and tlie ubiquitous snipe, wliich arrives in September from Southern India, is identified not alone by the eccentricity of its flight, but by retaining in high perfection the quahties which have en- deared it to the gastronome at home. But the magnificent pheasants which inhabit the Himalayan range and the woody hills of the Chin-Indian peninsula, have no repre- sentative amongst the tribes that people the woods of Cey- lon ; although a bird believed to be a pheasant has more than once been seen in the jungle, close to Eambodde, on the road to Keuera-elha. ' Nettapvis CoromanSicnn. vol. i. p. 174. ^ IlERODOTtrs records the obser- vations of the Egyptians that the crocodile of the Nile abstains from food dm-ing the foiu- winter months. — Euterpe, Iviii. ■* Hfjiboldt relates a similar story as occurring at Calabazo, in Vene- zuela.— Personal Narrative, c. xvi. ZOOLOGY. [rAKT II. The species wliicli inliabits tlie fresh water is essen- tially cowaixUy in its instincts, and hastens to conceal itself on the appearance of man. A gentleman (who told me the circnmstance), when riding in the jmigie, overtook a crocodile, evidently roaming in search of water. It fled to a shallow pool almost dried by the sun, and, thrusting; its head into the mud till it covered 7 7 O up its eyes, it remained unmoved in profound confidence of perfect concealment. In 1833, during the progress of the Pearl Fishery, Sir Eobert Wilmot Horton em- ployed men to drag for crocodiles in a pond which was infested with them in the immediate vicinity of Aripo. The pool was about fifty yards in length, by ten or twelve wide, shallowing gradually to the edge, and not exceeding four or five feet in the deepest part. As the party approached the bund, from twenty to thirty reptiles, which had been basking in the sun, rose and fled to the water. A net, specially weighted so as to sink its lower edge to the bottom, was then stretched from bank to bank and swept to the further end of tlie pond, followed by a hue of men with poles to drive the crocodiles forward : so com- plete was the arrangement, that no individual could evade the net, yet, to the astonishment of the Governor's party, not one was to be found when it was drawn on shore, and no means of escape was apparent or pos- sible except descending into the mud at the bottom of the pond.^ Testudinata. Tortoise, — Of the testadiiiata the land tortoises are numerous, but present no remarkable features beyond the beautiful marking of the starred variety'-^, which is common in the north-western province ^ A remarkable instance of the vi- tality of the common crocodile, C. hi- porcatus, was related to me by a gentleman at Galle : he had caught on a baited hook an unusually large one, which his coolies disembowelled, the aperture in the stomach being left expanded by a stick placed across it. On returning in the afternoon with a view to secure the head, the}^ found that the creature had crawled for some distance, and made its escape into the water. 2 Testudo stellata, Sclmrff/. Chap. III.] TORTOISES. 189 around Putlam and Cliilaw, and is distinguished by the bright yellow rays which diversify the deep black of its dorsal shield. From one of these which was kept in my garden I took a number of flat ticks {Ixodes), which adhered to its fleshy neck in such a position as to baffle any attempt of the animal itself to remove them ; but as they were exposed to constant danger of being crushed against the plastron dming the protrusion and retraction of the head, each was covered with a horny case almost as resistant as the carapace of the tortoise itself. Such an adaptation of structure is scarcely less striking than that of the parasites found on the spotted hzard of Berar by Dr. Hooker, each of which presented the distinct colour of the scale to which it adhered.^ Tlie marshes and pools of tlie interior are frequented by the terrapins ^, which the natives are in the habit of keeping ahve in wells under the comiction that tliey clear them of impurities. The edible turtle ^ is found on all the coasts of the island, and sells for a few shil- lings or a few pence, according to its size and abundance at the moment. At certain seasons tlie turtle on the soutli-western coast of Ceylon is avoided as poisonous, and some lamentable instances are recorded of death which was ascribed to their use. At Pantura, to the south of Colombo, twenty-eight persons who had par- taken of turtle in October, 1840, were seized with sick- ness immediately, after which coma succeeded, and eighteen died during the night. Those who survived said there was nothing unusual in the appearance of the flesh except that it was fatter than ordinary. Other similarly fatal occurrences have been attributed to turtle curry ; but as the}^ have never been proved to proceed 1 Hooker's Himalayan Journals, vol. i. p. 37. ^ Emyda Ceylonensis, Gray, Cata- logiie, p. 04, tab. 29 a. ; May. Nat. Hid. p. 265 : 1856. Dr. Ivelaart, iu liis Proclromva (p. 179), refers this te the common Imlican species, E. punctata ; but Dr. Gray has shown it to be a distinct one. It is generally dis- tributed in the lower parts of Cey- lon, in lakes and tanks. It is put into wells to act the part of a scav- enger. By the Singhalese it is named Kiri-ibba. ^ Chelouia virgata, Schiceiy. 190 ZOOLOGY. [Part II. exclusively from that source, there is room for beheving that the poison may have been contained in some other ingredient. In the Gulf of Manaar turtle is frequently found of such a size as to measure between four and five feet in length ; and on one occasion, in riding along the sea-shore north of Putlam, I saw a man in charge of some sheep, resting under the shade of a turtle shell, which he had erected on sticks to protect him from the sun — almost verifying the statement of ^han, that in the seas off Ceylon there are tortoises so large that several persons may find ample shelter beneath a single shell.i The hawksbill turtle ^, which supphes the tortoise-shell of commerce, was at former times taken in great num- bers in the vicinity of Hambangtotte during the season when they came to deposit their eggs, and there is stiU a considerable trade in this article, which is manufac- tured into ornaments, boxes, and combs by the Moor- men resident at Galle. If taken from the animal after death and decomposition, the colour of the shell becomes clouded and milky, and hence the cruel expedient is resorted to of seizing the turtles as they repair to the shore to deposit then- eggs, and suspending them over fires till heat makes the plates on the dorsal shields start from the bone of the carapace, after which the creature is permitted to escape to the water,^ In illustration of the resistless influence of instinct at the ' " T'lKTOvTai Se apa iv ravrtj ry da- Xi'iTTy, Kill ^fXitii'"' jusytirrai, wvTrep ovv TCI tXvTpa 6po. TV.] BURYING FISH. 221 in each group, at a considerable depth in the soft mud, under which, when the water is about to evaporate duririf^' the dry season, it burrows and conceals itself^ till the returning rains restore it to liberty, and reproduce its accustomed food. The Melania Paludina in the same way retires during the droughts into the muddy soil of the rice lands ; and it can only be by such an instinct that this and other mollusca are preserved when the tanks evaporate, to re-appear in fuU growth and vigour imme- diately on the return of the rains. '^ Dr. John Hunter^ has advanced the opinion that hy- bernation, although a result of cold, is not its immediate consequence, but is attributable to that deprivation of food and other essentials Avhicli extreme cold occasions, and asainst the recurrence of which nature makes a timely provision by a suspension of her functions. Ex- 1 A knowledge of this fact was tiu-ned to prompt account by Mr. Evlgar S. Lavard, when hokling a judicial office at Point I'edro in 1849. A native who had been defrauded of bis land complained before him of his neighbom-, who, during his ab- sence, had removed their common landmark by diverting the original watercourse and obliterated its traces by tilling it to a level \n\\\ the rest of the held. Mr. Lavard directed a trench to be sunk at the contested spot, and disco^•ering numbers of the AmpuUaria, the remains of the eggs, and the living animal which had been buried for months, the e^'idence was so resistless as to confound the'vsTong- doer, and terminate the suit. - For a similar fact relative to the shells and water beetles in the pools near Rio Janeiro, see Darwin's Nat. Journal, ch. v. p. 99. Bexsox, in the first vol. of G/ea)ii»f/s of Science, pub- lished at Calcutta in 1829, describes a species of P«^/f//«rt found in pools, which are periodically dried up in the hot season but reappear with the rains, p. SQS. And in the Journal of the Axiatic Soc. of Bcnr/al for Sept. 1832, Lieut. Huttox, in a singularly interesting paper, has followed up the same subject by a nan-ative of his own observations at Mirzapore, where in June, 1832, after a few heavy showers of rain, which formed pools on the surface of the ground near a mango gTove, he saw the Paludiiue issuing from the gToimd, "pushing aside the moistened earth and coming forth from their retreats ; but on the disappearance of the water not one of them was to be seen above ground. Wishing to ascerttun what had be- come of them, he turned up the earth at the base of several trees, and in- variably found the shells buried from an inch to two inches below the sur- face." Lieut. Ilutton adds that the AmpuUarice and Planorhes, as well as the Pahidince, are fomid in similar situations during the heats of the dry season. The British Pmdea ex- hibit the same foculty (see a mono- gTaph in the Canih. Phil. Trans, vol. iv.). The fact is elsewhere alluded to in the present work of the power possessed by the land leech of Ceylon of retaining vitality even after being- parched to hardness during the heat of the rainless season. Vol. I. ch. vii. p. 312. 2 IlrxTER's Ohserratimis on parts of the Animal CEcononiij, p. 88. 222 ZOOLOGY. [Part II. cessive heat in the tropics produces an effect upon ani- mals and vegetables analogous to that of excessive cold in northern regions, and hence it is reasonable to suppose that the torpor induced by the one may be but the coun- terpart of the hybernation which results from the other. The frost Avliich imprisons the alligator in the Mississippi as effectually cuts him off from food and action as the drought which incarcerates the crocodile in the sun-burnt clay of a Ceylon tank. The hedgehog of Europe enters on a period of absolute torpidity as soon as the incle- mency of winter deprives it of its ordinary supply of slugs and insects ; and the Tenrec^ of Madagascar, its tropical representative, exhibits the same tendency during the period when excessive heat produces in that chmate a like result. The descent of the Amjmllana, and other fresh-water molluscs, into the mud of the tank, has its parallel in the conduct of the Bulimi and Helices on land. The European snail, in the beginning of winter, either buries itself in the earth or withdraws to some crevice or over- arching stone to await the returning vegetation of spring. So, in the season of intense heat, the Helix Waltoni of Ceylon, and others of the same family, before re- tiring under cover, close the aperture of their shells with an impervious epiphragm, which effectually pro- tects their moisture and juices from evaporation during the period of thek aestivation. The Buhmi of Chili have been found ahve in England in a box packed in cotton after an interval of two years, and the animal inhabiting a land-shell from Suez, which was attached to a tablet and deposited in the British Museum in 1846, was found in 1850 to have formed a fresh epiphragm, and on being immersed in tepid water, it emerged from its shell. It became torpid again on the 15th November,' 1851, and was found dead and dried up in March, 1852.^ But the exceptions serve to prove ^ Cenfcfes ecaudatus, lUiger. | See I)r. Baird's Account of Helix ~ Annals of JVatural Iliston/, 1850. | descrtorum; Excelsior, ^-c, cli. i. p. 345. Chap. IV J .ESTIVATION OF FISHES. 223 the accuracy of Hunter's opinion almost as strikingly as accordances, since tlie same genera of animals which hybernate in Europe, wliere extreme cold disarranges their ceconomy, evince no symptoms of lethargy in the tropics, provided their food be not diminished by the heat. Ants, wliich are torpid in Europe during winter, work all the year round in India, wdiere sustenance is uniform.^ The Shrews of Ceylon [Sorex montaiius and S. ferrugi- neus of Kelaart) which, like those at home, subsist upon insects, inhabit a region where the equable tempera- ture admits of the pursuit of their prey at all seasons of the year ; and hence, unlike those of Europe, they never hybernate. A similar observation applies to tlie bats, wdiich are dormant during a northern winter when insects are rare, but never become torpid in any part of • the tropics. Tlie bear, in Hke manner, is nowhere deprived of its activity except when the rigour of severe frost cuts off its access to its accustomed food. On the other hand, tlie tortoise, which immerses itself in indurated mud during the hot months in Venezuela, shows no tendency to torpor in Ceylon, where its food is permanent ; and yet is subject to hybernation when carried to the colder regions of Europe. To the fish in the detached tanks and pools when the heat, by exhausting the water, deprives them at once of motion and sustenance, the practical effect must be the same as when the frost of a northern winter encases them in ice. JSTor is it difficult to believe that they can successfully undergo the one crisis when we know beyond question that they may survive the other. ^ ^ Colonel Stkes has described in the Entomoloi/ical Trans, the opera- tions of an ant which laid np a store of hay against the rainy season. ^ Yarrell, vol. i. p. 364, quotes the authority of Dr. J. Hunter in his Animal (Econoniif, that fish, " after being frozen still retain so nuich of life as when thawed to resume their vital actions ;" and in the same volume (Introd. vol. i. p. xvii.) he relates from Jesse's Gleanings in Natural Ilistori/, the story of a gold fish {C'l/- jyrinus airratus) which, together with the water in a marble basin, was frozen into one solid lump of ice, yet, 224 ZOOLOGY, [Part IL Hot-water Fishes. — Another incident is striking in connection with the fresli-water fishes of Ceylon. I have mentioned elsewhere the hot springs of Ivannea, in the vicinity of Trincomalie, the water in which flows at a temperature varying at different seasons from 85° to 115°. In the stream formed by these wells M. Eeynaud found and forwarded to Cuvier two fishes which he took from the water at a time when his thermometer indicated a temperature of 37° Eeaumur, equal to 115° of Fahrenheit. The one was an Apogon, the other an Ambassis, and to each, from the heat of its habitat, he assigned the specific name of " Thermahs." ^ List of Ceylon Fishes. I. OSSEOUS. Acanthopterygii. Perca argentca, Bcnnclt, Apogon roseipinuis, Cuv. §• Val. Zeylonicus, Cuv. &f Val. tliernialis, Cuv. §- Val. Ambassis thermal is, Cuv. &f Val. Serranus biguttatus, Cuv. §• Val. Tanlvcvvilla!, Beiin. lemniscatus, Cuv. Sf Val. JSoniieratii, Cuv. Sf Vul. flavo-ceruleus, Lacep. marginalis, Cuv. ^ Val. Boelang, Cuv. §• Val. Serranus favcatus, Cuv. ^ Val. angularis, Cuv. ^ Val. punctulatus, Cuv. §* Val. Diiicopc decera-lineatus, Cuv. §* Val. spilura, Benn. xaiitliopus, Cnv. Sf Val. Mcsopriun annularis, Cuv. Sf Val. Holocentrus orientale, Cuv. ^ Val. spinifera, Cuv. Sf Val. argcnteus, Cuv. Sf Val. Upcncus tseniopterus, Cuv. Sf Val. Zeylonicus, Cuv. ^ Val. llusseli, Cuv. §• Vul. cinnabarinus, Cuv. Sf Val. riatycephalus punctatus, Cuv. §• Val. on the water being thawed, the fish became as lively as usual. Dr. RxcHAEDSON, iu the third vol. of his Fauna Borvalis Americana, says the gTey sucking carp, found in the fur countries of North America, may be frozen and thawed again without being killed in the process. 1 Cuv. and Val., vol. iii. p. 363. In addition to the two fishes above named, a loche Cobitis fkennalis, and a carp, Nuria thennoicos, were found in the hot-springs of Kaunea, at a heat 40° Cent., 114° Falir., and a roach, Leu- ciscus thermaUs, when the thermo- meter indicated 50° Cent, 122° Fahr. — lb. xviii. p. 59, xvi. p. 182, xvii. p. 94. Fish have been taken from a hot spring at Pooree when the thermometer stood at 112° Fahr., and as they belonged to a carnivo- rous genus, they must have found prey living in the same high tempera- ture.— Journ. Asiatic Soc. Bemj. vol. vi. p. 4(55. Fishes have been observed in a hot spring at Manilla whicJi raises the thermometer to 187°, and in another in Barbary, the usual tempe- rature of which is 172°; and Humboldt and Bonpland, when travelling in South America, saw fishes thrown up alive from a volcano, in water that raised the temperature to 210°, being two degrees below the boiling point. Pattehson's Zoolof/y, Pt. ii. p. 211 ; Yae-RELl's History of British FisJics, vol. i. In. p. xvi. CiiAr. lY.] FISHES. 225 scaLer, Lbm. tuberculatus, Cuv. S( Val. serratus, Cuv. §* Val. Pterois volitans, Gr/«. muricata, Cuv. ^ Val. Diagranima cinerascens, Cuv. Sf Val. Blochii, Cuv. Sf Val. poeciloptera, Cuv, §• Val. Cuvievi, Benn. Sibbaldi, E. Benn. Lobotcs crate, Cuv. ^ Val. Scolopsides bimaculatus, Rupp. Ampbiprion Clarkii, J. Benn. Dascyllus aruaniis, Cuv. Sf Val. Glyphisodon Raliti, Cuv. Sf Val. Brownrigii, Benn. Spar-US Hardwickii, ./. Benn. Pagnis longifilis, Cuv. ^ Val. Lethrinus opercularis, Cuv. §• Val. fasciatiis, Cuv. Sf Val. frivnatiis, Cuv. ^ Val. cytbrurus, Cuv. ^ Val. cincrcus, Cuv. Sf Val. Smaris balteatus, Cuv. Sf Val. CiBsio coerulaureus, Lucep. Gerrcs oblongus, Cuv. Sf Val. Cbsetodon vagabuiidus, Linn. Sebaiuis, Cuv. §• Val. Layardi, Blylh. xanthocephalus, E. Bennett. guttatissinnis, E. Benn. Ilajniocbus maciolepidotus, Linn. Scatophagus argus, Cuv. §■ Val. Holacanthus xantburus, E. Benn. Platax Raynaldi, Cuo. §- Val. ocellatup, Cuv. 1^- Val. Elirenbergii, Cuv. §• Val. Anabas scandens, Dald. Helostoma. Polyacanthus. Ophicephalus. Cybium guttatum, Bloeh. Chorinenius moadetta, Ehren. Rbynchobdclla occllata, Cuv. Sf Val. Mastocemblus Skinneri, H. Smith. Caranx Heberi, J. Benn. spcciosus, Forsk. Rhombus trioceUatus, Cuv. §• Val, Equula daccr, Cuv. Sf Val. filigcra, Cuv. ^ Val. Aiiiphacantbus javus, Lmn. sutor, Cuv. Sf Val. Acanthurus xantburus, Blyth. triostcgus, Block. Delisiani, Cuv. Sf Val. lineatus, Lacep. melas, Cuv. §- Val. Atherina duodecimalis, Cuv. §• Val. Blennius. Salarias marmoratus, Benn. alticus, Cuv. §• Val. Eleotris sexguttata, Cuv. Sf Val. VOL. I. Cheironectcs hispidus, Cuv. Sf Val. Tautoga fasciata, Block. Julis lunaris, Litui. decussatus, W. Benn. formosus, Cuv. ^ Val. quadricolor, Lesson. dorsalis, Quay Sf Gaini. aurcomaculatus, W. Benn. Ceihuiicus, E. Benn. Finlaysoiii, Cuv. Sf Val. purpureo-lineatus, Cuv. §• Val. Gomiibosus fuscus, Cuv. Sf Val. viridis, W. Benn. Scarus jicpo, W. Benn. harid, Forsk. 3%Salacopteryg:ii (abdoxuinales). Silurus. Bagrus albilabris, Cuv. Sf Val. Plotosus lineatus, Cuv. §• Val. Cyprinus. Barbus tor, Cuv. Sf Val. Nnria thcrmoicos, Cuv. Sf Val. Leueiscus Zeylonicus, E. Benn. thermalis, Cuv. Sf Val. Cobitis thermalis, Cuv. §• Val. Hcmirhampbus Reynaldi, Cuv. §• Val. Georgii, Cuv. Sf Val. Exoccetus evolans, Linn. Sardinella loiogaster, Cuv. Sf Val. lineolata, Cuv. Sf Val. Saurus myops, Val. IVXalacopterygii (Sub-bracbiati). Pleuronectes, L. nialacopterygrii (Apoda). Murcena. Iiopbobrancbi. Syngnathus, L. PIectog:natbll. Tetraodon ocellatus, W. Benn. argyropleura, E. Bemiett. argentatus, Blytk. Balistes biaculcatus, W. Benn. Triacanthus biaculeatus, W. Benn. II. CARTILAGINOUS. Squabus, L. Pristis antiquorum, Latk, cuspidatus, Latk. pectinatus, Latk. Rata, L. 226 ZOOLOGY. [Part IT. NOTE (A.) INSTANCES OF FISHES FALLING FEOM THE CLOUDS IN INDIA. From the Bombay Times, 1856. Dr. Buist, after enumerating cases in which fishes were said to have been thrown out from volcanoes in Soutli America and precipitated from clouds in various parts of the world, adduces the following instances of similar occurrences in India. " In 1824," he says, " fishes fell at Meerut, on the men of Her Ma- jesty's 14th Regiment, then out at drill, and were caught in numbers. In July, 1826, live fish were seen to fall on the grass at Moradabad during a storm. They were the common cyprinus, so prevalent in our Indian waters. On the 19th of February, 1830, at noon, a heavy fall of fish occurred at the Nokulhatty factory, in the Daccah zillah ; depositions on the subject were obtained from nine different parties. The fish were all dead ; most of them were large : some were fresh, others were rotten and mutilated. They were seen at first in the sky, like a flock of birds, descending rapidly to the ground; there was rain drizzling, but no storm. On the 16th and 17th of May, 1833, a fall of fish occurred in the zillah of Futtehpoor, about three miles north of the Jumna, after a violent storm of wind and rain. The fish were from a pound and a half to three pounds in weight, and of the same species as those found in the tanks in the neighbourhood. They were all dead and dry. A fall of fish occurred at Allahabad, during a storm in May, 1835 ; they were of the chowla species, and were found dead and dry after the storm had passed over the district. On the 20th of September, 1839, after a smart shower of rain, a quantity of live fish, about three inches in length and all of the same kmd, fell at the Sunderbunds, about twenty miles south of Calcutta. On this occasion it was remarked that the fish did not fall here and there irregularly over the ground, but in a continuous straight line, not more than a span in breadth. The vast mul- titudes of fish, with which the low grounds round Bombay are covered, about a- week or ten days after the first burst of the monsoon, appear to be derived from the adjoining pools or rivulets, and not to descend from the sk}^ They are not, so far as I know, found in the higher parts of the island. I have never seen them, though I have watched carefully, in casks Chap. IV.] FISHES PALLIXG FROM THE CLOUDS. 227 collecting water from the roofs of buildings, or heard of them on the decks or awnings of vessels in the harbour, where they must have appeared had they descended from the sky. One of the most remarkable phenomena of this kind occurred during a tre- mendous deluge of rain at Kattywar, on the 25th of July, 1850, when the ground aroimd Rajkote was found literally covered with fish ; some of them were found on the tops of haystacks, where probably they had been drifted by the storm. In the course of twenty-four successive hours twenty-seven inches of rain fell, thirty-five fell in twenty-six hours, seven inches within one hour and a half, being the heaviest fall on record. At Poonah, on the 3rd of August, 1852, after a very heavy fall of rain, multitudes of fish were caught on the ground in the cantonments, full half a mile from the nearest stream. If showers of fish are to be ex- plained on the assumption that they are carried up by squalls or violent winds, from rivers or spaces of water not far away from where they fall, it would be nothing wonderful were they seen to descend from the air during the furious squalls which occasion- ally occur in June." NOTE (B.) MIGRATION OF FISHES OVER LAND. Opinions of the Greeks and Romans. It is an illustration of the eagerness with which, after the expedition of Alexander the Grreat, particulars connected with the natural history of India were sought for and arranged by the Greeks, that in the works both of Aristotle and Theophrastus the facts are recorded of the fishes in the Indian rivers migrating in search of water, of their burying themselves in the mud on its failure, of their being dug out thence alive during the dry sea- sou, and of their spontaneous reappearance on the return of the rains. The earliest notice is in the treatise of Aristotle De Respiratione, chap, ix., who mentions the strange discovery of living fish found beneath the surface of the soil, twv l^dvcop oi iToXkoi ^coaiv sv rrj yj], aKivrjrlfyvTSS fisvToi, Kat, supiaKovrai opvTTo^svoL ; and in his History of Animals he conjectures that in pqnds periodically dried the ova of the fish so buried a 2 228 ZOOLOGY. [Part II become vivified at the change of the season.^ Herodotus had previously hazarded a similar theory to account for the sudden appearance of fry in the Egyptian marshes on the rising of the Nile; but the cases are not parallel. Theophrastus, the friend and pupil of Aristotle, gave importance to the subject by devoting to it his essay Ilspl ti)s rwv l^Ovwv sv t,r)pu> Bt,afxov'r]s, De Piscibus in sicco degentibus. In this, after adverting to the fish called exocoetus, from its habit of going on shore to sleep, d-rro rrjs KOirrjs, he instances the small fish il-^Ovhia), which leave the rivers of India to wander like frogs on the land; and likewise a species found near Babylon, which, when the Euphrates runs low, leave the dry channels in search of food, " moving themselves along by means of their fins and tail." He proceeds to state that at Heraclea Pontica there are places in which fish are dug out of the earth, opuKTOL rwv l-^Ovtov, and he accounts for their being found under such circumstances by the subsidence of the rivers, " when the water being evaporated the fish gradually descend beneath the soil in search of moisture ; and the surface becoming hard they are preserved in the damp clay below it, in a state of torpor, but are capable of vigorous movements when disturbed. In this manner, too," Theophrastus adds, "the buried fish propagate, leaving behind them their spawn, which becomes vivified on the return of the waters to their accustomed bed." This work of Theophrastus became the great authority for all subsequent writers on this question. Athen^us quotes it'-^, and adds the further testimony of Polybius, that in Grallia Narbonensis fish are similarly dug out of the ground.^ Strabo repeats the story ^, and one and all the Greek naturalists received the statement as founded on reliable authority. Not so the Eomans. Livy mentions it as one of the prodigies which were to be "expiated^" on the approach of a rupture with Macedon, that "in Grallico agro qua induceretur aratrum sub glebis pisces emersisse," •'' thus taking it out of the category of natural occurrences. Pomponius Mela, obliged to notice the matter in his account of Narbon Graul, accompanies it with the intimation that although asserted by both Grreek and Roman ' Lib. vi. cli. 15, 16, 17. ^ Lib. viii. ch. 2. 3 lb. ch. 4. Lib. iv. and xii. Lib. xlii. ch. 2. CuAr. IV.J FISHES OX DEY LAND. 229 authorities, the story was either a delusion or a fraud. ^ Juvenal has a sneer for the rustic — " mii'auti sub aratro riscibiis inveutis." — Sat. xiii. 63, And Seneca, whilst he quotes Theophrastus, adds ironically, that now we must go to fish with a hatchet instead of a hook ; "' non cum hamis, sed cum dolabra ire piscatum." ^ Pliny, who devotes the 35th chapter of his 9th book to this subject, uses the narra- tive of Theophrastus, but with obvious caution, and universally the Latin writers treated the story as a fable. In later times the subject received more enlightened attention, and Beckmann, who in 1736 published his commentary on the collection Uspl Qav/xaaicov aKovaixdrwv, ascribed to Aristotle, has given a list of the authorities about his own times, — Georgius Agricola, Gresner, Rondelet, Dalechamp, Bomare, and Gronovius, who not only gave credence to the assertions of Theophrastus, but adduced modern instances in corroboration of his Indian authorities. NOTE (C.) CEYLON FISHES. (^Memorandum, by Professor Huxley.) See p. 205. The large series of beautifully coloured drawings of the fishes of Ceylon, which has been submitted to my inspection, possesses an unusual value for several reasons. The fishes, it appears, were all captured at Colombo, and even had those from other parts of Ceylon been added, the geographical area would not have been very extended. Never- theless there are more than 600 drawings, and though it is possible that some of these represent varieties in different stages of growth of the same species, I have not been able to find definite evidence of the fact in any of those groups which I have particularly tested. If, however, these drawings repre- sent six hundred distinct species of fish, they constitute, so far as I know, the largest collection of fish from one locality in existence. 1 Lib. ii. ch. 5. "- Nat. Qucest. vii. 10. q3 230 ZOOLOGY. [Part II. The number of known British fishes may be safely assumed to be less than 250, and Mr. Yarrell enumerates only 226, Dr. Cantor's valuable work on Malayan fishes enumerates not more than 238, while Dr. Eussell has figured only 200 from Coro- mandel. Even the enormous area of the Chinese and Japanese seas has as yet not yielded 800 species of fishes. The large extent of the collection alone, then, renders it of great importance ; but its value is immeasurably enhanced by two circumstances, — the first, that every drawing was made while the fish retained all that vividness of colouring which be- comes lost so soon after its removal from its native element ; second, that when the sketch was finished its subject was care- fully labelled, preserved in sj)irits, and . forwarded to England, so that at the present moment the original of every drawing can be subjected to anatomical examination, and compared with already named species. Under these circumstances, I do not hesitate to say that the collection is one of the most valuable in existence, and might, if properly worked out, become a large and secure foundation for all future investigation into the ichthyology of the Indian Ocean. It would be very hazardous to express an opinion as to the novelty or otherwise of the species and genera figured without the study of the specimens themselves, as the specific distinctions of fish are for the most part based upon character; the fin-rays, teeth, the operculum, &c., which can only be made out by close and careful examination of the object, and cannot be represented in ordinary drawings however accurate. There are certain groups of fish, however, whose family traits are so marked as to render it almost impossible to mistake even their portraits, and hence I may venture, without fear of being far wrong, upon a few remarks as to the general features of the ichthyological fauna of Ceylon. In our own seas rather less than a tenth of the species of fishes belong to the cod tribe. I have not found one repi'esented in these drawings, nor do either Eussell or Cantor mention any in the surrounding seas, and the result is in general har- mony with the known laws of distribution of these most useful of fishes. On the other hand, the mackerel family, including the tun- nies, the bonitos, the dories, the horse-mackerels, &c., which form not more than one sixteenth of our own fish fauna, but which are Chap. IV.] FISHES OF CEYLON. 231 known to increase their proportion in hot climates, appear in wonderful variety of form and colour, and constitute not less than one fifth of the whole of the species of Ceylon fish. In Eussell's catalogue they form less than one fifth, in Cantor's less than one sixth. Marine and other siluroid fishes, a group represented on the continent of Europe, but doubtfully, if at all, in this country, constitute one twentieth of the Ceylon fishes. In Russell's and Cantor's lists they form about one thirtieth of the whole. The sharks and rays form about one seventh of our own fish fauna. They constitute about one tenth or one eleventh of Eussell and Cantor's lists, while among these Ceylon drawings I find not more than twenty, or about one thirtieth of the whole, which can be referred to this group of fishes. It must be ex- tremely interesting to know whether this circumstance is owing to accident, or to the local peculiarities of Colombo, or whether the fauna of Ceylon really is deficient in such fishes. The like exceptional character is to be noticed in the propor- tion of the tribe of flat fishes, or Pleuronectidce. Soles, turbots, and the like, form nearly one twelfth of our own fishes. Both Cantor and Eussell give the flat fishes as making one twenty- second part of their collection, while in the whole 600 Ceylon drawings I can find but five PleuronectidcB. When this great collection has been carefully studied, I doubt not that many more interesting distributional facts will be evolved. Since receiving this note from Professor Huxley, the drawings in question have been submitted to Dr. Grray, of the British Mu- seum, and that eminent naturalist, after a careful analysis, has favoured me with the following memorandum of the fishes they exhibit, numerically contrasting them with those of China and Japan, so far as we are acquainted with the ichthyology of those seas : — Cartilag^inea. China and Ceylon Japan. Squall 12 ... 15 Eaiaj 19 ... 20 Sturioncs 0 ... 1 Ostinopteryg^ii. Plectognathi. tctraodontidse . . 10 . . .21 bulistidEe . . . 9 . . .19 China and Ceylon. Japan. Lophobranchii. syngnathidte . . 2 . . . 2 pegasidffi ... 0 ... 3 Ctenobranchii. lophidce .... 1 ... 3 Cyclopodi. echencidre . . . 0 . , . 1 cyclopteridfB . . 0 . , . 1 gobidaj . ... 7 ... 35 Q 4 232 ZOOLOGY. [Part II. Percini. callionymidffi uranoscopidie cottidag triglida) . polynemidce mullidae percidEe . . berycidaa sillaginidse . sciasnidas . haemulinidte seiTanidte . theraponidae cirrhitidas . msenidia; . sparidse . . acaiithuridse chaitodontida; , fistularida; Periodopbaryngi. mugilidai . anabaiitidge poraacentridaj . China and Ceylon. Japan. 0 . . . 7 0 . . 7 0 . .13 11 , . 37 12 . . 3 1 . . 7 26 . . . 12 0 . . . 5 3 . . 1 19 . . . 13 6 . . . 12 31 . . 38 8 . , 20 0 . . 2 37 . . 25 !6 . . 17 14 . . 6 25 . . 21 2 . 3 5 . . 7 6 . . 15 10 . . 11 Ceylon. Japan. Pharyngognathi. labrida; . . . .16. . .35 scombcresocida; . 13 . . . 6 blenniidce ... 3 ... 8 Scomberina. zeida; .... 0 ... 2 sphyvEenidaj . . 5 . . . 4 scomberidai . 118 . . .62 xiphiida; ... 0 ... 1 cepolidsB ... 0 ... 5 Heterosomata. platessoidese .. 5 ... 22 siluridffi . . . 31 . . .24 cyprinidse . . . 19 . . .52 scopelinidse . . 2 . . . 7 salmonidse ... 0 ... 1 clupcida; . . . 43 . . .22 gadidae .... 0 ... 2 macruridse ... 1 ... 0 Apodes. anguillidiE . . . 8 . . .12 niur«nida3 ... 8 ... 6 sphagebranchidtB 8 . . .10 233 CHAP. V. CONCHOLOGY, ETC. I. THE SHELLS OP CETLOIf. Allusion has been made elsewliere to the profusion and variety of shells Avhich abound in the seas and inland waters of Ceylon \ and to the habits of the Moormen, who monopolise the trade of collecting and arranging them in satin-wood cabinets for transmission to Europe. But, although naturahsts have long been famihar mth the marine testacea of this island, no successful attempt has yet been made to form a classified catalogue of the species ; and I am indebted to the eminent conchologist, Mi\ Syl- vanus Hanley, for the list which accompanies this notice of those found in the island. In di'awing it up, Mr. Hanley observes that he found it a task of more difficulty tlian would at first be surmised, owing to the almost total absence of rehable data from which to construct it. Tliree sources were available : col- lections formed by resident naturahsts, the contents of the well-known satin-wood boxes prepared at Trincomahe, and the laborious elimination of locahty from tlie liabitats ascribed to all the known species in the multitude of works on conchology in general. But, unfortunately, the first resource proved fallacious. There is no large collection in this country composed ex- clusively of Ceylon shells. And the very few cabinets rich in the marine treasures of the island havinc^ been filled as much by purchase as by personal exertion, there is an absence of the requisite confidence that all professing 1 See Vol. 11. p. IX. ch. v. 234 ZOOLOGY. [Pabt II. to be Singhalese have been actually captured in the island and its waters. The cabinets arranged by the native dealers, though professing to contain the productions of Ceylon, include shells which liave been obtained fi'om other islands in the Indian seas ; and books, probably from these very facts, are either obscure or deceptive. The old writers content themselves Avith assigning to any particular shell the too-comprehensive habitat of " the Indian Ocean," and seldom discriminate between a specimen from Ceylon and one from the Eastern Archipelago or Hindustan. In a very few instances, Ceylon has been indicated with precision as the habitat of particular shells, but even here the views of specific essentials adopted by modern conchologists, and the subdivisions estabhshed in consequence, leave us in doubt for which of the described forms the collective locahty should be retained. Valuable notices of Ceylon shells are to be found in de- tached papers, in periodicals, and in the scientific surveys of exploring voyages. The authentic facts embodied in the monographs of Eeeve, Kuster, Sowerby, and Kienn, have greatly enlarged the knowledge of the marine testacea ; and the land and fresh-water moUusca have been similarly illustrated by the contributions of Benson and Layard in the Annals of Natural History. The dredge has been used but only in a few insulated spots along the coasts of Ceylon ; European explorers have been rare ; and the natives, anxious only to secm^e the showy and saleable shells of the sea, have neglected the less attractive ones of the land and the lakes. Hence Mr. Hanley finds it necessary to premise that the hst appended, although the result of infinite labour and re- search, is less satisfactory than could have been mshed. " It is offered," he says, " with diffidence, not pretending to the merit of completeness as a shell-fauna of the island, but rather as a form, which the zeal of other collectors may hereafter elaborate and fill up." Chap. V.] SHELLS. 235 Looking at the little that has yet been done, compared with the vast and almost untried field which invites explorers, an assiduous collector may quadruple the species hitherto described. The minute shells especially may be said to be unknown ; a \'igilant examination of the corals and excrescences upon the spondyh and pearl- ' oysters would signally increase our knowledge of the Eissoce, Chemnitzia?, and other perforating testacea, wliilst the dredge from the deep water will astonish the amateur by the wholly new forms it can scarcely fail to display. Dr. Kelaart,an indefatigable observer, has recently under- taken to investigate the Nudibranchiata, Inferobranchiata, and Tectibranchiata ; and a recently-received report from him, in the Journal of the Ceylon Branch of the Eoyal Asiatic Society, m which he has described fifty-six species, — thirty-three belonging to the genus Doris alone — gives ample e^ddence of Avliat may be expected fi'om the researches of a naturahst of his acqukements and industry. List of Ceylon Shells. The arrangement here adopted is a modified Lamarckian one, very similar to tiiat used by Reeve and Sowerby, and by Mk. Hanlet, in his Illustrated Catalogue of Recent Shells.^ ' Bt4ow will be found a general eference to the Works or Papers in ■which are given descriptive notices of tlie shells contained in the follow- ing list ; the names of the authors (in fidl or abbreviated) being, as usual, annexed to each species. Adams, Proceed. Zool. Soc. 1853, 54, 56 ; Tiiesaur. Conch. Albeks, Zeitsch. Malakoz. 1853. Antok, Wiegm. Arch. Nat. 1837 ; Verzeichn. Conch. Beck in Pfeiffer, Si/mhol. Melic. Be>'Son, A)m. Xat. Hist. vii. 1851 ; xii. 1853 ; xviii. 1850. Blain- TiLLE, Diet. Sc. Nat. ; Nouv. Ann. 3Ius. Hist: Nat. i. Bolten, 3fm. Born, Test. Ifus. Cces. Vind. Brode- Kip, Zool. Journ. i. iii. Beugxtiere, Ency. 3Iethod. Vers. Carpenter, Proc. Zool. Sue. 18oG. Chemnitz, Conch. Cab. Chenit, Illus. Conch. Deshates, Encyc. Meth. Vers. ; Mag. Zool. 1831 ; Voy. Belunger ; Edit. Lam. An. s. Vert. ; Proceed. Zool. Soc. 1853, 54, 55. Dillwtn, Descr. Cat. Shells. Dohrn, Proc. Zool. Soc. 1857, 58 ; Ilalak. Platter ; Land and Fhuiatile Shells of Ceylon. Dfclos, 3Ionog. of Oliva. FABRlCirs, in Pfeiffer Monog. Helic. ; in Dohni's MSS. Ferussac, Hist. Mollusques. FoRSKAL, Anim. Orient. Gmelin, 236 ZOOLOGY. [Pakt II. Aspergillum Javanum, Brvg. Enc. Met. sparsum, Sowerbij, Gen. Shells.' clavatum, Chenu, Illust. Couch. Teredo nucivoius, Spengl. Skr. Nat. Sels.2 Solen truncatus, Wood, Gen. Conch, linearis, Wood, Gen. Conch, ciiltellus, Linn. Syst. Nat. radiatus, Linn. Syst. Nat. Anatina subrostrata, Lamarck, Anim. s. Vert. An.atinella Nicobarica, Gm. Syst. Nat. Lntraria Egyptiaca, CAemn. Conch. Cab. Blainvillea vitrea, Chemn. Conch. Cab.^ Scrobicularia angulata, Chemn. Conch. Cab.* Mactra complanata, Deshayes, Proc. Zool. Soc* tiimida, Chemn. Conch. Cab. antiquata, lieece fas of Spengler), Conch. Icon, cj'gnea, Chemn. Conch. Cab. Corbiculoides, Deshayes, Proc. Zool. Soc. 1854. Mesodesma Layardi, Deshayes, Proc. Zool. Soc. 1854. striata, Chemn. Conch. Cab.° Crassatella rostrata. Lam. Anim. s. Vert. sulcata. Lam. Anim. s. Vert. Amphidesma duplieatum, Sowerby. Species Conch. Pandora Ceylonica, Soiverhy,Conch. Mis, Galeomma Layardi, Deshayes, Proc. Zool. Soc. 1856. Kellia peculiaris, Adams, Proc. Zool. Soc. 1856. Petricola cultellus, Z)c5Aa2/es, Proc. Zool. Soc. 1853. Sanguinolaria rosea, Lam. Anim. s.Vei"t. Psammobia rostrata, Lam. Anim. s.Vert. occidens, Gm. Systema Natur®. Skinneri, Reeve, Conch. Icon.' Layardi, Desk. P. Z. Soc. 1854. lunulata, Desk. P. Z. Soc. 1854. amethystus, Wood, Gen. Conch.* rugosa, Lam. Anim. s. Vert.^ Tellina virgata, Linn. Syst. Nat.'" rugosa. Born. Test. Mus. Cass. Vind. ostracea, Lam. Anim. s. Vert. ala, Hanley, Thesaur. Conch, i. inajqualis, Hanley, Thesaur. Conch, i. ' A. dichotomum, Chenu. ^ Fistulana grcgata, Lam. ^ Blainvillea, Hupe. * Latraria tellinoidcs. Lam. * I have also seen M. hians of Philippi in a Ceylon collection. * M. Ta^vohM\Qns\s,Tnde.vTest.Suppl. ' Psammotella Skinneri, Reeve. * P. cjerulescens. Lam. ^ Sanguinolaria rugosa, Lam. '" T, striatula of Lamarck is also supposed to be indigenous to Ceylon. Syst. Nat. Gray, Proc. Zool. Soc. 1834, 52 ; Index TestaceoJoc/ieus Snppl. ; Spicilcf/ia Zool. ; Zool. Journ. i. ; Zool. Beeclmj Voy. GsATELOrp, Act. Linn. Bordeaux, xi. Gtjeein, Rev. Zool. 1847. Hanley, TJicscmr. Condi, i. ; Recent Bivalves ; Proc. Zool. Soc. 1858. Hinds, Zool. Voy. Sulphur ; Proc. Zool. Soc. HuTTON, Journ. As. Soc. Kaksten, 3Ius. Lesk. Kjenee, Coquilles Vivantes. Keatss, Sud-Afrik Mollusk. Lamaeck, An. sans Verteb. Layaed, Proc. Zool. Soc. 1854. Lea, Proceed. Zool. Soc. 1850. LiNNiEUS, Syst. Nat. Mae- TiNi, Conch. Cab. Mawe, Introd. Linn. Conch. ; Indexi Test. Suppl. MEUSCnEN, in Gronov. Zoophylac. Menke, Synop. Mollus. Mtjllee, Hist. Verm. Terrest. Petit, Pro. Zool. Soc. 1842. Pfeiffee, Ilonoy. Hclic. ; Monoy. Pncumon. ; Proceed. Zool. Soc. 1852, 53, 54, 55, 56 Zeitschr. Mcdacoz. 1853. Philippi, Zeitsch. Mai. 1846, 47 ; Abbild. Netier Ccmcli. POTIEZ et MiCHATJD, Galerie Douai. Rang, May. Zool. ser. i. p. 100. Eecltjz, Proceed. Zool. Soc. 1845 ; Reime Zool. Cuv. 1841 ; 3Iay. Conch. Reeve, Conch. Icon. ; Proc. Zool. Soc. 1842, 52. Schtjmachee, Syst,. Shuttlewoetit. Solandee, in Dilhvyn's Desc. Cat. Shells. Soweeby, Genera Shells ; Sjwcies Conch. ; Conch. Misc. ; Tliesanr. Conch. ; Conch. Ilhis, ; Proc. Zool. Soc. ; A]}]), to Tankerin'lle Cat. Spenglee, Skrivt. Nat. Selsk. Kiobenhav. 1792. Swainson, Zool. Illust. ser. ii. Tehpleton, Ann. Nat. Hist. 1858. Teoschel, in Pfeiffcr, 3Ion. Pneum ; Zeitschr. ilalak. 1847; Wieym. Arch. Nat. 1837. Wood, General Conch. Chap. V.] SHELLS. 237 Layardi, Deshayes, P. Z. Soc. 1854. callosa, Deshayes, P. Z. Soc. 1854. rubra, Deshayes, P. Z. Soc. 1854. abbreviata, Deshayes, P. Z. Soc. 1854. foliacea, i/7«?i. Systcma Naturce. lingua-felis, Linn. Systcma Naturse. vulsella, Chemn. Concli. Cab.' Lucina interrupta, Lam. Auim. s. Vert.^ Layardi, Deshayes, Proc. Zool. Soc. 1855. Donax scortum, Linn. Syst. Nat. cuneata, Linn. Syst. Nat. faba, Chem. Conch. Cab. spinosa, Gm. Syst. Nat. paxillus. Reeve, Conch. Icon. Cyrena Ceylanica, Chemn. Conch. Cab. Tennentii, Hanky, P. Z. Soc. 1858. Cytherea Erycina, Linn. Syst. Nat.^ nieretrix, Linn. Syst. Nat.* castanea, Lam. Anim. s. Vert. castrensis, Linn. Syst. Nat. casta, Gm. Syst. Nat. costata, Chemn. Conch. Cab. Iseta, Gm. Syst. Nat. triniaculata, Lam. Anim. s. Vert. Hebrffia, Lam. Anim. s. Vert. rugifera, Lam. Anim. s. Vert. scripta, Linn. Syst. Nat. gibbia, Lam. Anim. s. Vert. Meroe, Linn. Syst. Nat. testudinalis. Lam. Anim. s. Vert. seminuda, Anton. Wiegm. Arch. Nat. 1837. Cytherea seminuda, Anton.^ Venus reticulata, Linn. Syst. Nat.' pinguis, Chemn. Conch. Cab. Teceus,Philippi, Abbild.Neuer Conch. thiara, Dillw. DescrijHive Cat, Shells. IMalabarica, Chem?i. Conch. Cab. Bruguieri, Hanley, Recent Bivalves. papilionacea. Lam. Anim. s. Vert. Indica, Sowerby, Thesaur. Conch, ii. inflata, Deshayes, Proc. Zool. Soc. 1853.' Ceylonensis, Sowerby, Thes. Conch, ii. literata, Liim. Systema Nature. textrix, Chemn. Conch. Cab.^ Cardium unedo, Linn. Syst. Nat. maculosum, Wood, Gen. Con. leucostoraum, Born. Test. Mus. Cses. Vind. nigosum, Lam. Anim. s. Vert. biradiatum, Bruguiere, Encyc. Meth. Vers. attenuatum, Sowerby, Conch. Illust. enode, Sowerby, Conch. Illust. papyraceum, Chemn. Conch. Cab. ringiculum, Sowerby, Conch. Illust. subrugosum, Sowerby, Conch. Illust. latum, Born, Test. Mus. Ctes. Vind. Asiaticum, Chemn. Conch. Cab. Cardita variegata, Bruguiere, Encyc. Method. Vers. bicolor. Lam. Anim. s. Vert. Area rhombea, Born, Test. Mus. vcllicata, Beeve, Conch. Icon. cruciata, Philippi, Ab. Neutr Conch. decussata, Beeve (as of Sowerby), Conch. Icon.^ scapha, Meuschen, in Gronov. Zoo. Pectunculus nodo3us,7?eei'e,Conc]i. Icon. pcctiniformis, Lam. Anim. s. Vert. Nucula mitralis, i/m(/«, Zool.voy.Sul. Layardi, Adams, Proc. Zool.Soc. 1856. Nucula Mauritii {Hanley as of Hinds}, Kecent Bivalves. Unio corrugatus, MUller, Hist. Verm. Ter.'o marginalis. Lam. Anim. s. Vert. Lithodomus cinnamoneus, Lam. Anim. s. Vert. Mytilus viridis, Linn. Syst. Nat." bilocularis, Linn. Syst. Nat. Pinna inflata, Chemn. Conch. Cab. cancellata, Mawe, Intr. Lin. Conch. Malleus vulgaris, Lam. Anim. s. Vert. albus. Lam. Anim. s. Vert. Meleagrinamargaritifera,ZiH7j.Syst.Nat. vexillum, Beeve, Conch. Icon.'^ Avicula macroptera, Beeve, Conch. Icon. Lima squamosa, Lam. Anim. s. Vert. Pecten plica, Linn. Syst. Nat. radula, Linn. Syst. Nat. pleuronectes, Linn. Syst. Nat. pallium, Linn. Syst. Nat. senator, Gm. Syst. Nat. histrionicus, Gm. Syst. Nat. Indicus, Deshayes, Voyage Belanger. Layardi, Beeve, Conch. Icon. Spondylus Layardi, Beeve, Conch. Icon. candidus, Beeve (as of Lam.) Conch. Icon. ' T. rostrata, Lam. ^ L. divaricata is found) also, in mixed Ceylon collections. ^ C. dispar of Chemnitz is occasionally found in Ceylon collections. * C. impudica, Lam. ^ As Donax. ° V. corbis. Lam. ' As Tapes. ^ V. textile. Lam. " ? Area Helblingii, Chemn. '" ]Mr. Cuming informs me that he has forwarded no less than si.K distinct Uniones from Ceylon to Isaac Lea of PhiladeliDhia for determination or de- scription. " M. smaragdinus, Chemn. '■ As Avicula. 238 ZOOLOGY. [Pakt it. Ostrca liyotis, Linn. Syst. Nat. glaucina. Lam. Anim. s. Vert, Mytiloides, Lam. Anim. s. Vert, cucull.ata? var. Born. Test. Mus. Vinci.' Vulsella Pholadiformis, Reeve, Concli. Icon, (immature). Placuna placenta, Linn. Syst. Nat. Lingula anatina, Lam. Anim. s. Vert. Hyalica tridentata, For. Anim. Orient.^ Chiton, 2 species (Lai/ard). Patella Reynaudii, Deshai/es,Yoy. Be. testudinaria, Linii. Syst. Nat. Emarginula fissurata, Chemn. Conch. Calj.^ Lam. Calyptrsea (Crucibulum) violascens, Carpenter, Proc. Zool. Soc. 1856. Dentalium octogonum, Lam. Anim. s. Vert aprinum, Linn. Syst, Nat. Bulla soluta, Chemn. Conch. Cab.* vexillum, Chemn. Conch. Cab. Bruguieri, Adams, Thes. Conch, clongata, Adams, Thes. Coach, ampulla, Linn. Syst. Nat. Lamellaria (as Marsenia Indica, Leach. in Brit. Mus.) allied to L. Mauri- tiana, if not it. Vaginula maculata, Tempi. An. Nat. Limax, 2 sp. Parmacella Tennentii, Templ.^ Vitrina in-adians, Pfeiffer, Mon. Helic. Edgariana, Be)isoji, Ann. Nat. Hist. IS.^S (xii.) membranacea, Benson, Annal. Nat. Hist. 1853 (xii.) Helix hsemastoma, Linn. Syst. Nat. vittata. Mailer, Vermium Terrestrium. bistrialis. Beck, in Pfeift'er, Symbol. Helic. Tranquebarica, Fabricius, in Pfeiff. Monog. Helic. Juliana, G?a^, Proc. Zool. Soc. 1834. Waltoni, Reeve, Proe.Zool, Soc, 1842, Skinneri, Reeve, Conch, Icon, vii, corylus, Reeve, Conch, Icon, vii. umbrina, {Reeve, as oi Pfeiff.), Conch. Icon. yii. fallaciosa, Ferussac, Hist. Mollus. Rivolii, Deshayes, Enc. Meth. Vers. ii. Charpentieri, Pfeiff. Monog. Helic. erronea, Albers, Zeitschr. Mai. 1853. carneola, Pfeiff'- Monog. Helic, convexiuscnla, Pfeiff'- Monog, Helic. ganoraa, Pfeiff. Monog, Helic, Chenui, Pfeiff'. Monog, Helic, semidecussata, Pfeiff. Monog, Helic. phcenix, Pfeiff. Monog, Helic. supcrba, Pfeiff. Monog, Helic, Ceylaiiica, Pfeiff. Monog. Helic. Gardneri, Pfeiff Monog. Helic. coriaria, Pfeiff- Monog. Helic. Layardi, Pfeiff. Monog. Helic, concavospira, Pfeiff'. Monog. llelic. novella, Pfeiff. Monog, Helic, verrucula, Pfeiff'. Monog. Helic. hypliasma, Pfeiff. Monog. Helic. Emiliana, Pfeiff. Monog. Helic. Woodiana, Pfeiff. Monog. Helic. partita, Pfeiff. Monog. Helic. biciliata, Pfeiff. Monog. Helic. Isabellina, Pfeiff. Proc. Zool. Soc. trifilosa, Pfeiff Proc. Zool Soc, 1854. politissima, Pfeiff. Proc. Zool, Soc. 1854. Thwaitesii, Pfeiff'. Proc. Zool. Soc. 1854. nepos, Pfeiff. Proc. Zool. Soc. 1855. subopaca, Pfeiff. Proc. Zool. Soc. 1853. subconoidea, Pfeiff. Proc. Zool. Soc. 1854. ceraria, Benson, Annals Nat. Hist. 1853 (xii.) vilipensa, Benson, Ann. Nat. Hist. 1853 (xii.) perfucata, Benson, Ann. Nat. Hist. 1853 (xii.) puteolus, Benson, Ann. Nat. Hist. 1853 (xii.) mononema, Benson, Ann. Nat. Hist. 1853 (.xii.) marcida, Benson, Ann. Nat. Hist. 1853 (xii.) galerus, Benson, Ann. Nat. Hist. 1856 (xviii.) albizonata, Dohrn, Proc. Zool. Soc. 1858. ' The specimens are not in a fitting state for positive determination. They are strong, extremely narrow, with the beak of the lower valve much produced, and the inner edge of the upper valve denticulated throughout. The muscular impressions are dusky brown. ^ As Anomia. ^ The fissurata of Humphreys and Daco.sta, pi. 4. — E. rubra, Lamarck. * B. Ceylaniea, Britg. ^ P. Tennentii. " Greyish brown, with longitudinal rows of rufous spots, form- ing interrupted bands along the sides. A singularly handsome species, having similar habits to Limax. Found in the valleys of the Kalany Ganga, near Ruanwelle." — Templeton MSS, CnAP. v.] SHELLS. 239 Nietneri, DoJirn, MS.' Grcvillei, Pfeiff.l^roc. Zool. Soc. 1856. Streptaxis Layardi, Pfeijf'. Mon. Ilelic. Ciiigalensis, Pfeijf. Monog. Helic. Pupa muscerda, Benson, Annals Nat. Hist. 1853 (xii.) mimula, 5e7iso?j, Ann. Nat. Hist. 1856 (xviii.) Ceylanica, Pfeiff. Monog. Helic. Bulimus trifasciatus, Brug, Encycl. Meth. Vers, pullus, Gray, Proc. Zool. Soc. 1834. gracilis, Hutton, Journ. Asiat. Soc. iii. punctatus, Anton, Verzeichn. Conch. Ceylanicus, P/e/^". (? laevis. Gray, in Index Testaceologicus.) adumbratus, Pfeiff. INIonog. Helic. intermedins, Pfeiff. Monog. Helic. proletarius, Pfeiff'. Monog. Helic. albizonatus, JReeve, Conch. Icon, mavortius. Reeve, Conch. Icon, fuscoventris, Benson, Ana. Nat. Hist. 1856 (xviii.) rufopictus, Benson, Ann. Nat. Hist. 1856 (xviii.) pauos, Benson, Ann. Nat. Hist, 1853 (xii.) Achatina nitens. Gray, Spicilegia Zool. inornata, Pfeiff. Monog. Helic. capillacea, Pfeiff. Monog, Helic. Ceylanica, Pfeiff'. Monog. Helic. Punctogallana, Pfeiff'. Monog. Helic, pachycheila, Benson. veruina, Bens. Ann. Nat. Hist. 1853 (xii.) parahilis, Bens. Ann. Nat. Hist. 1856 (.xviii.) Succinea Ceylanica, P/e{^.Monog.Helic. Auricula Ceylanica, Adams, Proc. Zool. Soc. 1854.' Ceylanica,PfioAnt, Proc. Zool. Soc. 1857. distinguendus, Dohrn, Proc. Zool. Soc. 1857. Cumingianus, X)o/i?7!, Proc. Zool. Soc. 1857. dromedarius, Dohrn, Proc. Zool. Soc. 1857. Skinneri,Z>oAni,Proc. Zool. Soc. 1857. Swainsoni,Z)o/t;7t,Proc. Zool. So.l857. nodulosus, DoArw, Pi'oc Zool. So. 1857. Paludomus {Tanalia). loricatus, Reeve, Conch. Icon, erinaceus, jReew, Proc. Zool. Soc.1852. jEreus, iJewe, Proc. Zool. Soc, 1852. Layardi, 7?eei'e, Proc. Zool. Soc. 1852. undatus, i?eeye. Conch. Icon. Gardneri, Reeve, Conch. Icon. Tennentii, Reeve, Conch. Icon. Recvei, Layard, Proc. Zool. Soc. 1854. violaceus, Za?^fl/yf, Proc. Zool. So.l854. similis, Layard, Proc. Zool. Soc. 1854. funiculatus, Layard, Proc. Zool. Soc. 1854. Paludomus (Philopotamis). sulcatus, Reeve, Conch. Icon. regalis, Layard, Proc. Zool. Soc. 1854. Thwaitesii, Layard, Proc. Zool. Soc. 1854. Pirena atra, Linn. Systema Naturse. Paludina melanostoma, Bens. Ceylanica, Z>o/«n«, Proc. Zool. So. 1857. Bythinia stenothyroides, Dohrn, Proc. Zool. Soc. 1857. modesta, Dohrn, MS. inconspicua, Dohrn, Proc. Zool. Soc. 1857. Ampuilaria Layardi, Reette, Conch. Icon. moesta. Reeve, Conch. Icon, cinerca. Reeve, Conch. Icon. Woodward!, Dohrn, Proc Zool. Soc. 1858. Tischbeini, Dohrn, Proc, Zool. Soc. 1858. carinata, Swainson, Zool. Elus. ser. 2 paludinoides. Cat- Cristofori §• Jan.' Malabarica, Philippi, iu Kust. ed. Chem." Luzonica, Reeve, Conch. Icon.^ Sumatrensis, Philippi, in Kust. cd. Chem.2 Navicella eximia. Reeve, Concli. Icon, reticulata, Reeve, Conch. Icon. Livcsayi,7)o/irn, Proc. Zool. Soc.l8S8. squamata, Dohrn, Proc. Zool. So. 1858. depressa, Xaw. Anim. s. Vert. Neritina crepidularia, Lam. Anim. s. Vert, melanostoma, Troschel, Wicgra. Arch. Nat. 1837. triserialis, Sowerby, Conch. Illustr. Colombaria, Recluz, Proc. Zool. Soc. 1845. Pcrottetiana, Recluz, Revue Zool. Cuvier, 1841. Ceylanensis,/^ec/Mr,Mag. Conch. 1851. Layardi, Reeve, Conch. Icon, rostrata. Reeve, Conch. Icon, reticulata, Soivei-by, Conch. Illustr. Nerita plicata, Linn. Systema Naturae, costata, Chemn. Conch. Cab. plexa, Chemn. Conch. Cab.' Natica aurantia, Lam. Anim. s. Vert, mammilla, Zi«?J. Systema Naturae, picta. Reeve (^as of Recluz), Conch. Icon, arachnoidea, Gm. Systema Naturse. lineata, Lam. Anim. S- Vert, adusta, C/«e»m. Conch. Cab f. 1926-7, and Karsten.* pellis-tigrina, Karsten, Mus. Lesk.^ ' M. fasciolata, Olivier. ^ These four species are included on the authority of Mr. Dohrn. ^ N, exuvia, Lam, not Linn. * Conch. Cab. f. 1926-7, and N. me- lanostoma. Lam. in part, * Chemn. Conch. Cab. 1892-3. Chap. V.] SHELLS 241 didyma, Bolten, Mus.' lanthina prolongata, Blainv. Diction. Sciences Nat. xxiv. communis, Krauss (as of Lamarck, in part) Sud-Afrik. MoUusk. Sigaretus. A species (possibly Javanicus) is known to liave been col- lected. I have not seen it. Stomatella calliostoma, Adams, Thcsaur. Conch. Holiotis varia, Linn. Systema Naturaj. striata, Martini (as of Linn.'), Couch. Cab. i. semistriata, Reeve, Conch. Icon. Tornatella solidula, Linn Systema. Nat. Pyramidella maculosa, Lam. Anim. s. Vert. Eulima Martini, Adams, Thes. Conch, ii. Siliquaria muricata, Born, Test. Mus. Ctes. Vind. Scalaria raricostata. Lam. Anim. s. Vert. Delphinula laciniata,Zam. Anim. s. Vert. distorta, Linn. Syst. Nat.' Solarium perdix. Hinds. Proc. Zool. Soc. Layardi, Adams, Proc. Zool. Soc. 1854.* Rotella vestiaria, Linn. Syst. Nat. Phorus pailidulus, Beeve, Conch. Icon. i. Trochus elegantulus, Gra?/, Index Tes. Suppl. Niloticus, Zm«. Syst. Nat. Monodonta labio, Li7i7i. Syst. Nat. canaliculata. Lam. Anim. s. Vert. Turbo versicolor, Gm. Syst. Nat. princeps, Philippi.^ Planaxis undulatus, Lam. Anim. s. Vert.* Littorinaangulifera,ia»i. Anim. s.Vert. melauostoma. Gray, Zool. Beech. Chemnitzia trilineata, Adams,Vvoc, Zool. Soc. 1853. lirata, Adams, Proc. Zool. Soc. 1853. Pliasianella lineolata, Gray, Index Test. Suppl. Turritella bacillum, Kiencr, Coquillcs Vivantcs. columnaris,iir(e?ie7-,CoquillesVivantcs. dnplicata, Linn. Syst. Nat. attenuata, Reeve, Syst. Nat. Cerithium fluviatile, Potiez ^ Michaud, Galerie Douai. Layardi (Cerithidea), Adams, Proc. Zool. Soc. 1854. aluco, Linn. Syst. Nat. asperum, Linn. Syst. Nat. telescopium, Linn. Syst. Nat. palustre obeliscus, Linn. Syst. Nat. fasciatum, Brug. Encycl. Mcth. Vers rubus, SuwerJiy (as of Martyn), Thes- Conch, ii. Sowcrbyi, Kiener, Coquilles Vivantes (teste Sir E. Tcnnent). Pleurotoma Indica, Deshaycs, Voyage Belanger. virgo, Lam. Anim. s. Vert. Turbinella pyrum, Linn. Syst. Nat. rapa, Lam. Anim. s. Vert.(the Chank.) cornigera, Lam. Anim. s. Vert. spirillus, Linn. Syst. Nat. CanccUaria trigonostoma, Lam. Anim. s. Vert.' scalata, Sowerby, Thcsaur. Conch. articularis, Sowerby Thesaur, Conch. Littoriniformis, Sowerby, Thes. Conch. contabulata, Sowerby, Thes. Conch. Fasciolaria filamentosa, Lam. Anim. s. Vert. trapezium, Linn, Syst. Nat. Fusus longissimus. Lam. Anim. s. Vert. coins, Linn. Mus. Lud. Ulrica;. toreuma, Deshayes, (as Murex t. Martyn), ed. Lam. Anim. s.Vert. laticostatus Deshayes, Magas. Zool. 1831. Blosvillei, Deshayes, Encycl. Method. Vers., ii, Pyrula rapa, Linn. Syst. Nat.* citrina Lam. Anim. s. Vert. pugilina, Born, Test. Mus. Vind." ticus, Linn. Syst. Nat. ficoides, Lam. Anim. s. Vert. Ranella crumena, Lam. Anim. s. Vert. sjiinosa. Lam. Anim. s. Vert. rana, Linn. Syst. Nat.''^ margaritula, Deshayes,Yoy. Belanger. JIurex haustellum, Linn. Syst. Nat. adustus. Lam. Anhw. s. Vert. microphyllus, Lam. Anim. s. Vert. anguliferus, Lam. Anim. s. Vert. pahnaros:\2. Lam. Anim. s. Vert. ternispiiia, Kiener (as of Lam.), Co- quilles Vivantes. tcnuispina, Lam. Anim. s. Vert. ferrugo, Mawe, Index. Test. Suppl." lleeveanus,SAM7«,Test. Mus. Cres. Vind. Augur, BriKjuicre, Eneycl.Metli.Vcrs. obesus, Bruguiere Eneycl. Moth. Vers. arancosus, Brug. Eneycl. Meth. Vers. guberuator, Brug. Eneycl. Meth.Vers. monile, Brug. Encyel. Meth. Vers. nimijosus, Brug. Eneycl. Meth. Vers. eburneus, Brug. Eneycl. Meth. Vers. Yitulinus, Brug. Eneycl. Meth. Vers. qucreinus, Brug. Eneycl. Meth. Vers. lividus, Brug. Eneycl. Meth. Vers. Oinaria, Brug. Encyel. Meth. Vers. Maldivus, Brug. Encyel. Meth. Vers. nocturnus, i?;-?/^'. Eneycl. Meth.Vers. Ceylouensis,^/-!. VI.] CEYLON INSECTS. 269 robes, will not venture though a net.^ But, notwith- standing the opinion of Spence^, that nets with meshes an inch square will effectually exclude them, I have been satisfied by painful experience that (if the theory is not altogether faUacious) at least tlie modern mosquitoes of Ceylon are iminfluenced by the same considerations which restrained those of the Nile under the successors of Cambyses. List of Ceylon Insects. For the following Hst of the insects of the island, and the remarks prefixed to it, I am indebted to Mr. F. Walker, by whom it has been prepared after a careful inspection of the collections made by Dr. Templeton, Mi. E. L. Layard, and others ; as well as those in the British Museum and in the Museum of the East India Company. " A short notice of the aspect of the Island will afford the best means of accounting, in some degree, for its entomological Fauna : first, as it is an island, and has a mountainous central region, the tropical character of its productions, as in most other cases, rather diminishes, and somewhat approaches that of higher latitudes. " The coast-region of Ceylon, and fully one-third of its northern part, have a much drier atmosphere than that of the rest of its surface; and their climate aad vegetation are nearly similar to those of the Carnatic, with which this island may have been connected at no very remote period.^ But if, on the contrary, the land in Ceylon is gradually rising, the dif- ference of its Fauna from that of Central Hindostan is less remarkable. The peninsula of the Dekkan might then be conjectured to have been nearly or wholly separated from the central part of Hindostan, and confined to the range of moun- tains along the eastern coast ; the insect-fauna of which is as ^ Herodotus, Euterpe, xcv. ^ KniBY and Spence's Entomoloijii, letter iv. ' On the subject of this conjecture see ante, Vol. I. Pt. I. cli. i. p. 7, 270 ZOOLOGY. [Part II. yet almost unknown, but will probably be found to have more resemblance to that of Ceylon than to the insects of northern and western India — ^just as the insect-fauna of Malaj'a appears more to resemble the similar productions of Australasia than those of the more northern continent. " Mr. Layard's collection was partly formed in the dry northern province of Ceylon ; and among them more Hindostan insects are to be observed than among those collected by Dr. Templeton, and found wholly in the district between Colombo and Kandy. According to this view the faunas of the Neilgherry Mountains, of Central Ceylon, of the peninsula of Malacca, and of Australasia would be found to form one grou23 ; — while those of Northern Ceylon, of the western Dekkan, and of the level parts of Central Hindostan would form another of more recent origin. The insect-fauna of the Cax'natic is also pro- bably similar to that of the lowlands of Ceylon ; but it is still unexplored. The regions of Hindostan in which species have been chiefly collected, such as Bengal, Silhet, and the Punjaub, are at the distance of from 1300 to 1600 miles from Ceylon, and therefore the insects of the latter are fully as different from those of the above regions as they are from those of Australasia, to which Ceylon is as near in point of distance, and agrees more with regard to latitude. " Dr. Hagen has remarked that he believes the fauna of the mountains of Ceylon to be quite different from that of the plains and of the shores. The south and west districts have a very moist climate, and as their vegetation is like that of Ma- labar, their insect-fauna will probably also resemble that of the latter region. " The insects mentioned in the following list are thus dis- tributed : — Order Coleopteea. " The recorded species of Cicmdelid, Niet. *scydma;noides, Niet. Fam. Paussid^, Westw. Cerapterus, Swed. latipes, Swed. Pleuropterus, West, Wcstermanni, West, Paussus, Linn. pacificus, West. Fam. DTTisciDiE, Macl. Cybister, Curt. limbatus, Fabr, Dytiscus, Linn. extenuans, Wlk. Eunectcs, Erich. griseus, Fabr. Ilydaticus, Leach. festivus, ///. vittatus, Fabr. dislocans, Wlk. frac tiler, Wlk, Chap. VI.] CEYLOJSr INSECTS. 275 Colymbetes, Clair o. interclusus, Wtk. Hj'drojjorus, Clairv. interpulsus, Wlk. intermixtus, Wlk. Iretahilis, Wlk. *iiicfiiciens, Wlk. Fam. Gtrinid^, Leach. Dineutes, Mad. spinosus, Fabr- Porrorhynclnis, Lap. iiidicans, Wlk. Gyrctes, Bmlle. discit'cr, Wlk. Gyriiuis, Li?in. iiitidulus, Fabr. obliqiius, Wlk. Oicctocliilus, Esck. *lenocinium, Dohrn. Fam. Staphilinid^, Leach. Ocypus, Kirby. longipennis. Wilt. congruus, Wlk. punctiliiica, Wlk. *lincatus, Wlk. Philontlnis, Leach. *[)edestris, Wlk. Xantholinus, Dahl. cinctus, Wlk. *incliiiaiis, Wlk, Suniiis, Leach. *obliquus, Wlk. CEdichirus, Erich. *alatus, Niet. Pcederus, Fabr. altcrnans, Wlk. Stenus, Latr. *barbatixs, Niet. *laccrtoides, Niet. Osoriiis ? Leach. *compactus, Wlk. Prognatha, Latr. decisa, Wlh. •tenuis, Wlk. Lcptochinis, Perty. *bispinus, Erich. Oxytehis, Grav. riulis, Wlk. productus, Wlk. *bicolor, Wlk. TrogopbloBus? Mavn. *Taprobanie, Wlk. Omaliutn, Grav. filiforine, Wlk. Alcocbara, Grav. postica, Wlk. *transUita, Wlk. *subjecta, Wlk. Dinarda, Leach. senicornis, Wlk. Fam. PsELAPiUDiE, Leach. Pselaphanax, Wlk. setosus, Wlk. Fara.ScYDiLENiDiE,ZeacA. Erineus, Wlk. monstrosus, Wlk. Scydniicnus, Latr. *mcgainclas, Wlk. *alatus, Niet. *fcmoralis, Niet. *CeyIanicus, Niet. *intermedius, Niet. *psehipboides, Niet. *advolans, Niet. *pubescens, Niet. *pygma?us, Niet. *glanduliferus, Niet. *graminicola, Niet. *pyritbrmis, Niet. *angiisticeps, Niet. *ovatus, Niet. Fani. Ptiliad.k, Wall. Trichopteryx, Kirby. *cursitans, Niet. *immatura, Niet. *iiivisibilis, Niet. Ptilium, Schiipp. *subquadratiim, Niet. Ptenidium, Erich. *macrocephaIum, Niet. Fam. PiiALACRiD^,Zcac/(, Phalacrus, Payk. conjicieiis, Wlk. confcctus, Wlk. Fam. N1TIDULID.J;, Leach. Nitidula, Fabr. contigcns, Wlk. intcndens, Wlk. significans, Wlk. tomcntifera, Wlk. *tubmaculata, Wlk. *glabricula, Dohrn. Nitidulopsis, Wlk. requalis, 117^. Mcligetbes. Kirby. *()rientalis, Niet. *rcsj)ondeiis, Wlk. Rbizopbagus, Herbst. parallelus, Wlk, T 2 Fam. CoLYDiADiE, Wall. Lyctus, Fabr. retractus, Wlk. disputans, Wlk. Ditoma, Illig. rugicollis, Wlk. Yim\.TB.OQO&mx)JE.,Kirby. Trogosita, Oliv. insinuans, Wlk. *rhyzophagoidcs, Wlk. Fam. CucujiDiE, Steph. Losmophloeus, Dej. fernigineus, Wlk. Cucujus? Fabr. *iiicommodiis, Wlk. Silvanus, Latr. retrahens, Wlk. *scuticollis, Wlk, *porrectus, Wlk. Brontes, Fabr. *orientalis, Dej. Fam. LATHEIDIADiE, TFo//. Lathridius, Herbst. perpusillus, W^lk. Corticaria, Marsh. resecta, Wlk. Monotonia, Herbst. concinnula, Wlk. Fam. DERMESTID.E,Z«/c/i. J)ermestcs, Linn. vulpinus, Fabr. Attagenus, Latr, defectus, Wlk. rufipes, Wlk. Trinodes, Meg. liirtellus, Wlk. Fam. Btrrhid^, Leach. Inclica, Wlk. solida, Wlk. Fam. H1STERID.E, Leach. Hister, Linn. Bengalensis, Weid, encausius. Mars. orientalis, Payk. bipustulatus, Fabr. *mundissimiis, Wlk, Saprinus, Erich. semipunctatus, Fabr. Platysoma, Leach. atratum? Erichs. desinens, ^Mk. rcstoratum, Wlk. 27G ZOOLOGY. [Part IT. Dcndropliilus, Leach. fiuitiinus, Wlk. Tam. AnioDiADiE, Mad. Aphodius, IlUg. robustus, Wlk. dynastoides, Wlk. pallidicornis, Wlk. mutans, Wlk. sequens, Wlk. Psaramodius, Gyll. inscitus, Wlk. Fam. Trogid^, 3Iacl. Trox, Fabr. inclusus, Wlk, cornutus, Fabr. Fam, CopRiD^, Leach. Ateuchus, Weber. saccr, Linn. Gymnopleurus, lUig. smaragdii'er, Wlk. Kcenigii, Fabr. Sisyphus, Lair. setosulus, Wlk. subsidens, Wlk. prorainens, Wlk. Orepanocerus, Kirbij. Taprobante, Wat. Copris, Geoffr. Pirmal, Fabr. sagax, Qaens. capucinus, Fabr. cribricollis, Wlk. repcrtus, Wlk. sodalis, Wlh. signatus, Wlk. diminutivus, Wlk. Oatliophagus, Latr. Bonassus, Fabr. CLTviconiis, Fabr. prolixus, Wlk. gravis, Wlk. difficilis, Wlk. lucens, Wlk. negligeiis, Wlk. nioerens, Wlk- turhatus, Wlk. Onitis, Fabr. Philemon, Fabr. Earn. Dtnastidjb, Mad. Oryctes, Illig. rhinoceros, Linn. Xylotrupes, Hope. Gideon, Linn. reductus, Wlk. solidiiics, Wlk. Philcurus, Lair. detractus, Wlk. Orphnus, Mad. detegcns, Wlk. scitissiraus, Wlk. Fam. Geotrupid^, LeacA. Bolboceras, Kirby. lineatus, Westw. Fam. Melolontiiid^, Mad. Melolontha, Fabr. nummicudens, Newm. rubiginosa, Wlk. ferruginosa, Wlk, seriata, Hope. pinguis, Wlk. setosa, Wlk. Rhizotrogus, Latr. hirtipectus, Wlk. jequalis, Wlk. costatus, Wlk. inductus, Wlk. exactus, Wlk. sulci fer, Wlk. Phyllopertha, Kirby. transversa, Burm. Silphodes, Westw. Indica, Westw. Trigonostoma, Dej. assimile, Hope. compressum? Weid. naiium, Wlk. Serica, Mad. pruinosa, Hope. Popilia, Leach. marginicollis, Newm. cyanella, Hope. discalis, Wlk. Sericesthis, Dej. rotuiidata, Wlk. subsignata, Wlk. mollis, Wlk. confirmata, Wlk. Plectris, Lep. Sf Serv. sol id a, Wlk. punctigera, Wlk. glabrilinea, Wlk. Isonychus, Mann. ventral is, Wlk. pectoralis, Wlk. Omaloplia, Meg. fracta, Wlk. interrupta, Wlk. semicincta, Wlk, *liamifera., Wlk. *picta, Dohrn. *nana, Dohrn. Apogonia, Kirby. nigricans, Hope. Phytalus, Erich. eurystomus, Burm. Ancylonycha, Dej. Reynaudii, Blanch. Leucopholis, Dej. McUei, Guer. pinguis, Burm, Anomala, Meg. elata, Fabr. luimeralis, Wlk, discalis, Wlk. varicolor, Sch. conf'ormis, Wlk. similis, Hope. punctatissima, Wlk. infixa, Wlk. Mimela, Kirby. variegata, Wlk. mundissima, Wlk. Parastasia, We.o/ir?i. Dcndrotrogus, Jek. Dobrnii, Jek, discrepans, Dohrn Eucorynus, Schon. coUigendus, Wlk. coUigens, Wlk. Basitropis, Jek. *disconotatus, Jek, Litocerus, Schon, punctulatus, Dohrn. Tropideres, Sch. puiictulifer, Dohrn, fragilis, Wlk. Ccdus, Waterh. *cancellatus, Dohrn. Xylinadcs, Latr, sobrinulus, Dohrn. iudignus, Wlk. Xenocerus, Germ. aiiguliferus, Wlk. revocans, Wlk. *ancboralis, Dohrn. CalHstocerus, Dohrn. *Nietneri, Dohrn, Anthribus, Geoff'. longicomis. Fabr. apicalis, Wlk. facilis, Wlk. Artecerus, Schon, coftese, Fabr, *insidiosus, Fabr. *muscuUis, Dohrn. *intangens, Wlk, *bitbvea. Wlk, Dipieza, Pasc. *insignis, Dohrn. Apokcta, Pasc, *Nietneri, Dohrn. *musculus, Dohrn, Arrbenodes, Steven, miles, Sch. pilicornis, Sch, dentirostris, Jek, approximans, mk. Veneris, Dohrn, Cerobates, Schon, tbrasco, Dohrn, acicubitus, Wlk. Ccoccpbalus, Schon. cavus, Wlk. *reticulatus, Fabr, Nemocepbalus, Latr, siilch-ostris, De Haan, planicolHs, Wlk, spinirostris, Wlk, Apoderus, Oliv, longicolUs ? Fabr, Tranquebaricus, Fair, cygiieus, Fabr.? scitukis, Wlk. *triangnlaris, Fabr. *ecbinatus, Sch, llbyncbites, Herbst, Cii.vr. VI.] CEYLON INSECTS. 279 suiFundcns, W/k. *restitucns, Wlk. Apioii, Hcrbst. *Ciiigalense, ^^^k. Strophosoinus, Bilbug. *suturalis, TT7^-. Piazomias, Sclilin. sequalis, Wlk. Astycus, Schijn. lateralis, Fabr.? ebeninus, Wlk. *immuiiis, Wlk. Cleoiius, Sc/tiJn. inducens, Wlk. Myllocerus, Scliun. traiismarinu.s,//e/'6s<.? spurcatus, Wlk. *retraliens, Wlk. *posticus, Wlk. Phyllobius, Schon, *mimicus, Wlk. Episomus, Schon. pauperatus, Fabr. Lixus, Fabr. nebulifascia, Wlk. Ac lees, Schon. cribratus, Dej. Alcides, Dalm. signatus, Boh. obliquus, Wlk. transversus, Wlk. *clausus, Wlk. Acicnemis, Fairm. Ceyloniciis, Jek. Apotomorhinus. Schon. signatus, Wlk. alboater, Wlk. Cryptorhynchus, Illig. ineffectus, Wlk. assimilans, Wlk. declaratus, Wlk. notabilis, Wlk. vexatus, Wlk. Camptorbiniis, SchiJn.? i-evcrsus, Wlk. *iiuliscretns, Wlk. Desniidophorus, Chevr. hebes, Fabr. coinmunicans, Wlk. stiemiiis, Wlk. *discriminans, Wlk. inexpertus, Wlk. *iasciculicollis, Wlk. Sipalus, Schon. granulatiis, Fabr. porosus, Wlk. tinctus, Wlk. Mecopus, Dalm. *Waterhoiisei, Dohrn. Rhynchophorus, Herbst. ferruginous, Fabr. introducens, Wlk. Protoccrus, Schon. Miolossus ? 01 iv. SpbffiiK)])horus, Srhijn. glabridiscus, Wlk. exquisitus, Wlk. Dehaani ? Jek. cribricoUis, Wlk. ? paiiops, Wlk. Cossonus, Clairv. *quadrimacula, Wlk. ? hebes, Wlk. anibiguus, Sch."} Sitopliilus, Scltijn. oryzae, Linn. disciferus, \Mk. Mccinus, Germ. * ? rclictus, Wlk. Fam. Prionid.e, Leach. Trictenotoma, G.R. Gray. Templetoni, Westw. Prioiiomraa, White. orientalis, Oliv. Acanthophorus, Serv. serraticornis, Oliv. Cnemoplites, Neiom. Rhesus, Motch. iEgosoma, Serv. Cingalense, White. Fam. Cerambtcidje, Kirby. Cerambyx, Linn. indutus, Newm. vernicosus, Pasc. consocius, Pasc. vcrsutus, Pasc. nitidus, Pasc. macilentus, Pasc. venustus, Pasc. torticollis, Dohrn. Sebasmia, Pasc. Templetoni, Pasc. Callichroma, Latr. trogoninum, Pasc. tclephoroides, Westw. Ilomalomelas, White. gracilipcs. Parry. zonatus, Pasc. Colobus, Serv. Cingalensis, White. Tliranius, Pasc. gibbosus, Pasc. Deuteromma, Pasc. mutica, Pasc. Obriuin, Meg. laterale, Pasc. mcestum, Pasc. Psilomenis, Blanch. macilentus, Pasc. Clytus, Fabr. T 4 vicinus, Hope. ascendens, Pasc. Walkeri, Pasc. annularis, Fabr. *aurilinea, Dohrn. Rhaphuma, P«.sc. leucoscutellata, Hope. Ceresium, Newm. cretatum, White. Zeylanicum, White. Stromatium, Serv. barbatuni, Fabr. maculatum. White. Hespherophanes, Mids. simplex, Gyll. Fam. Lamiid^, Kirby. Nyphona, Muls. cylindracea. White. Mesosa, Serv. columba, Pasc. Coptops, Serv. bid ens, Fabr. Xylorhiza, Dej. adusta, Wied. Cacia, Newm. triloba, Pasc. Batocera, Blanch. rubus, Fabr. ferruginea, Blanch. Monohammus, Meg. fistulator. Germ, crucifer, Fabr. nivosus. White. commixtus, Pasc. Cereopsius, Dup. pationus, Pasc. Pelargoderus, Serv. tigrinus, Chevr. Olenocamptus, Chevr. bilobus, Fabr. Praonetha, Dej. annulata, Chevr. posticalis, Pasc. Apomecyna, Serv. histrio, Fabr. vai". ? Ropica, Pasc. prsDusta, Pasc. Hathlia, Serv. proccra, Pasc. Idea, Pasc. proxima, Pasc. histrio, Pasc. Glenea, Newm. sulphurella. White. commissa, Pasc. scapit'era, Pasc. vexator, Pasc. Stibara, Hope. nigricornis, Fabr. 280 ram. HisriD^, Kirhij. Oncocepbala, Dohim. deltoidcs, Dohrn. Leptispa, Baly. pygmcea, Bali/, Aniblispa, Baly, Dbhrnii, Bali/. Estigmena, Hope. Chinensis, Hope. Hispa, Limi. hystrix, Fabr. erinacea, Fabr. nigrina, Dohrn. *Walkeri, Bahj. Platypria, Guer. I echidna, Guer. 1 Fam. Cassidid^, Westw. Epistictia, Boh. matronula, Boh. Hoplionota, Hope. tetrasj^ilota, Baly. rubromarghiata, Boh. horrifica, Boh- Aspidomovpba, Hope. St. crucis, Fabr. miliaris, Fabr. pallidimarginata,Ba?// dorsata, Fabr. calligeva, Boh. micans, Fabr. Cassida, Linn. clatbrata, Fabr. timet'acta, Boh. farinosa, Bnh. Laccoptera, Boh. 14-notata, Boh. Coptcycla, Chevr. sex-notata, Fabr. 13-signata, Boh. 13-notata, Boh. ornata, Fabr. Ceylonica, Boh. Balyi, Boh. trivittata, Fabr. 15 -punctata, Boh. catenata, Dej. Earn. Sagrtd^, Kirby. Sagra, Fabr. nigrita, Oliv. Eain. DoNACiD.a;, Lacotd. Donacia, Fahr. Delcsserti, Guer. Coptocepbala, Chev. Templetoni, Baly. Earn. EuMOLPiD^, Baly. Corynodes, Hope. ZOOLOGY. cyaneus, Hope. eeneus, Bahj. Glvptoscelis, Chevr. Templetoni, Bahj. pyiospilotus, Baly. micans, Bahj. \ cuprcus, Baly. I Eumolpus, Fabr. lemoides, Wlk. ' Earn. Cryptocefhalid^, Kabij. Cryptoccpbalus, Geoff. sex-punctatus, Fabr. Walkeri, Baly. Diapromorpba, Lac, Tm-cica, Fabr. Earn. Chrysomelid.^, Leach. Chalcolampa, Baly. Templetoni, Baly. Lina, Meg. convexa, Baly. ChiT^omela, Linn. Templetoni, Baly. [Part II. Fam. Erotylid^:, Leach, Fatiia, Dej. Nepalensis, Hope. Triplax, Puyk. decorus, Wlk. \ Tritoma, Fahr. j *bit'acies, Wlk. *pvcposita, Wlk. I Iscbyrus, Cher:. grandis, Fabr. Earn. Galerucid^, Steph. Galeruca, Geoff. *pectinata, Dohrn. Graptodera, Cheur. cyanea, Fabr. Moaolepta, Chevr. l)ulcbella, Baly. Tbyamis, Steph. Ceylonicus, Baly. Eam. CocciNELLiD^, Xafr. Epilacbna, Chevr. 28-punctata, Fabr, Delessortii, Guer, pubescens, Hope. innuba, Oliv. Coccinella, Linn. tricincta, Fabr. *i-epanda, Muls. tcniiilinea, Wlk. rejiciens, Wlk. interrumpens, Wlk. quinqueplaga, Wlk, simplex, Wlk. antica, Wlk. flaviceps, Wlk. Neda, Muls. tricolor, Fabr. Coelopbora, Muls. 9-maculata, Fabr.? Cbilocorus, Leach. opponens, Wlk. Scymnu8, Kug.^ variabilis, Wlk, Eam. Endomychid^, Leach. Eugonius, Gerst. annularis, Gerst. lunulatus, Ge7-st. Euraorphus, Wtber, pulcbripes, Gerst, * toner, Dohrn. Stcnotarsus, Perly. ]S!ietneri, Gerst. *castaneus, Gerst. *toment()Sus, Gerst. *vallatus, Gerst. Lycoperdina, Latr. gUibrata, Wlk. Ancylopus, Gerst. melanocephalus, Oliv. Saula, Gerst. *nigripes, Gerst. *ferrugiiiea, Geist. Mycetiua, Gerst. castanca, Gerst. Order Ortlioptera, Linn. Eam. Yo-R¥icvi.iDJE,Steph. Eorficula, Linn. Eam. Blattid^, Steph. Panestbia, Serv. Javanica, Serv. plagiata, 1-^7^. Polyzostcria, Burin. larva. Corydia, Serv. Petiveriana, Linn. Eam. Mantid^, Leach. Empusa, Illig- gongylodes, Linn, ILu-pax, Serv. signifer, Wlk. Scbizoccphala, Serv. bicornis, Linn. Mantis, Linn. superstitiosa, Fabr. aridifolia, Stoll. extensicoUis ? Serv. Chap. VI.] CEYLON INSECTS. 281 Fam. PiiASMiDiE, Serv. Acropliylla, Gna/. systropedoii, Westw. Phasina, Licht. soniidiini, De Haan. rhyllium, ldi(]. siccifolimn, Linn. Fam. Gryllid^, Steph. Acheta, Linn. bimaculata. Deg. supplicans, Wlh. ffiqualis, Wlk. con firm ata, TTV^-. Platydactyliis. Briill. crassipes, Wlk. Steirodon, Serv. lanccolatuin, W//i. Phyllophora, Thunb. falsifblia, 117^. Acauthodis, Serv. rugosa, Wlk. Phaiieroptera, Sei-v. attenuata, Wlk. Phymateus, Thunb. miliaris, Linn. Truxalis, Linn. cxaltata, Wlk. porrecta, Wlk. Acridiuni, Geoff): cxtensum, Wlk. deponcns, Wlk. rufiribia, TT7^. cinctifcimir, TI7^. respondens, Wlk. nigrifascia, Wlk. Order, Phy sapoda, Dmn. Tlirips, Linn. stenomelas, Wlk. Order, ITeuroptera, Linn. Fam. Sericostomid^e, Steph. Mormonia, Curt. *ursina, Hayen. Fam. Leptocerid^e, Leach. Macronema, Picf. muldrarium, TI7^. *splendidum, Hagen. *ncbulosiim, Hayen. *ol)liquum, Hayen. *Ceylaiiicum, Niet. *annulicorne, Niet. Molanna, Curt. mixta, Hagen. Setodes, Ramb. *Iris, Hagen. *Iao, Hayen. Fam. Psi'CHOMiD^, Curt. Chimarra, Leach. *auriccps, Hayen. *funesta, Hayin. *sepulcralis, Hayen. Fam, Hydkopsychidje, Curt. Ilydropsyche, Pict. *Taprobaiies, Hagen. *raitis, Hagen. Fam. RnYACOPHiLiDiE, Steph. Rhyacophila, Pict. *castanea, Hayen. Fam. Perlid^, Leach. Perla, Geoffr. angulata, Wlk. *testacea, Hayen. *liraosa, Hagen. Fam. SiLiADiE, Westiv. Dilar, Ramb. *Nietneri, Hayen. Fam.lliEMBKOBUyjEjLeach. Mantispa, Illig. *Indica, Westw. mutata, Wlk. Chrysopa, Leach. invaria, Wlk. *tropica, Hayen. aurif'era, TtV^. *punetata, Hayen. Micromerus, Ramb. *linearis, Hayen. *aiistralis, Hayen. Hemerobius, Linn. *frontalis, Hayen. ConioptLTyx, Hal. *cerata, Hagen. Fam. Myrmeleonid^e, Leach. Palpares, Ramb. contrarins. TT7^. Acaiitlioclisis, Ramb. * — 11. s. Hayen. *molestus, Wlk. Myrmeleon, Z/nn. gravis, TT7A'. dims, Wlk. barbarus, Wlk. Ascalaphu.'!, Fabr. iiugax, Wlk. incusans, Wlk. *cerviiius, JViet. Fam. PsociDiE, Leach. Psocus, Latr. *Taprobaiies, Hagen, *oblitas, Hayen. *con situs. Ha ye}}. *trimaculatus, Hagen. *obtusus, Hayen. *eloiigatiis, Hayen. *chloroticus, Hayen. *aridus, Hayen. *coieoptratus, Hagen. *doIabratiis, Hayen. *int'clix, Hagen. Fam. Termitid^, Leach. Termes, Linn. Taprobanes, Wlk. fatalis, Kan. monoceros, Kan. *umbilicatus, Hagen. *n. s. Jouv. *n. s. Jouv. Fam. EMBiDiE, HayeJi. Olii^otoma, Westw. *Saundersii, Westw. Fam.EpiiEMERiD^,ZeacA. Bret is, Leach. Taprobanes, Wlk. Potamantluis, Pict. *fasciatus, Hayen. *annulatus, Hagen. *t'emoralis, Hayen. Cloe, Burm. *tristis, Hagen. *consneta, Hayen. *solida, Hayen. *sigmata, Hayen. *marginalis, Hayen. Csenis. Steph. perpusilla, Wlk. Fam. LlBELLULID^. Calopteryx, Leach. Chinensis, Linn. Euphoja, Seli/s. splendens, Hagen. Micromerus, Ramb. lineatus, Burm. Trichocnemys, Scli/s. *scrapica, Hagen. Lestes, Leach. *clata, Hagen. *gracilis, Hagen. i>82 ZOOLOGY. [Part IT. Agrion, Fabr. *Coromamk'lianum, F. *teiiax, Hagcn. *hilare, Hagen. *velare, Hagen. *deUcatum, Hagen. Gynacantha, Ramb. subinterrupta, Ramb. Epophthalmia, Bunn. vittata, Biirm. Zyxomma, Ramb. petiolatum, Ramb. Acisoma, Ramb. panoi-poides, Ramb. Libellula, Linn. Marcia, Brury. Tillarga, Fabr. variegata, Linn. flavescens, Fahr. Sabina, Drury. viridula, Pal. Beauv. congener, Ramb. soror, Ramb. Aurora, Btirm. violacea, Niet. perla, Hagen. sanguinea, Burm. trivialis, Ramb. contaminata, Fabr. equcstris, Fabr. nebulosa, Fabr. Order, Kymenoptera, Linn. Fam. FoRMiciDiE, Leach. Eormica, Lin?!. smaragdina, Fabr. mitis. Smith. *Taprobane, Smith. *variegata. Smith. *exercita, Wlk. *exundans, Wlk, *meritans, Wlk. *latebrosa, V^'Jk. *pangens, Wlk. *ingruens, Wlk *detorquens, Wlk. *diffidens, Wk. *obscurans, Wlk. *indeflexa, Wlk. consultans, Wlk. Polyvhachis, Smith. *illaudatus, Wlk. ^ Fam. P0NERID.5;, Smith. Odontomachus, Latr. simillimus. Smith. Typhlopone, Westw. Curtisii, Shuck. Myrmica, Lair. basalis. Smith. contigua, Smith. glyciphila. Smith. *eonsternens, Wlk. Ci'ematogaster, Lund. *pellens, Wlk *deponcns, Wlk. *forticulus, Wlk. PsL'udomyrma, Gure. *atrata, Smith. allaborans, Wlk. Atta, St. Farg. didita, Wlk. Pheidole, Westw. Janus, Smith. *Taproban3e, Smith. *rugosa, Smith. Meranoplus, Smith. *dimicans, Wlk. Cataulacus, Smith. TaprobanaJ, Smith. Fam. MuTiLLiD^, Leach. Mutilla, Linn. *Sibylla, Smith. Tiphia, Fabr. *decrescens, Wlk. Fam. EuMENiD^E, Westiv. Odynerus, Latr. *tinctipennis, Wlk. *intendens, Wlk. Scolia, Fabr. auricollis, St. Farg. Fam. CRABRONiDiE, Leac/t. Philanthus, Fabr. basalis. Smith. Stigmus, Jur. *congruus, Wlk. Fam. SpiiEGiDiE, Steph. Ammophila, Kirby. atiipes, Smith. Pelopffius, Latr. Spinolaj, St. Farg. Sphex, Fabr. ferruginea, St. Farg. Ampulex, Jur. compressa, Fabr. Fam. LARRiDiE, Steph. Larrada, Smith. *extensa, Wlk. Fam. PoMPiLTD^E, Leach. Pompilus, Fabr. analis, Fabr, Fam. Apid^e, Leach. Andrcna, Fabr. *exagens, Wlk. Nomia, Latr. rustica, Westw. *vincta, Wlk. Allodaps, Smith. *niarginata. Smith. Ceratina, Latr. viridis, Guer. picta, Smith. *simillima. Smith. Coelioxys, Latr. capitata, Smith. Crocisa, Jur. *ramosa, St. Farg. Stelis, Fanz. carbonaria, Smith. Anthophora, Latr. zonata. Smith. Xylocopa, Latr. tenuiscapa, Westw, latipes, Drury. Apis, Linn. Indica, Smith. Trigona, Jur. iridipennis. Smith, *pra3terita, Wlk. Fam. Chrtsid^,TF/A. Stilbnm, Spin. spleudidum, .Dahl. Fam. D0RYLID.E, Shuck. EnictuP, Shuck. porizonoidcs, Wlk. Fam. ICHNEUMONIDiE, j Leach. I Cryptus, Fabr. j *onustus, Wlk. Hemiteles ? Grav. 1 *varius, Wlk. Porizon, Fall. *dominans, Wlk. Pimpla, Fabr. albopicta, Wlk. Fam. Braconid^, Hal, Microgaster, Latr. *recusans, Wlk. *significans, Wlk. •subducens, ^Mk. *detracta, Wlk. Spathius, Nees. *bisignatus, Wlk. *signipennis, Wlk. Hcratemis, Wlk. *filosa, Wlk. ClIAP. VI.] CEYLON IXSECTS. 283 Nebartha, WUi. *macroiioitles, Wlk. Psyttalia, Wlk *testacea, Wlk. Fam. Chalcidi^, Spin. Chalcis, Fabr. *ciividens, Wlk. *paiidens, Wlk. Halticella, Spin. *rufimanu3, Wlk. *iiiliciens, Wlk. Dirrhinus, Dalm. *Anthracia, Wlk. Eurytoma, ///. *contraria, Wlk. *indefcnsa, Wlk. Eucharis, Latr. *convergens, Wlk. *deprivata, Wlk. Ftcromalu;^, Swerl. *magniccp3, Wlk. Eiicyrtus, Latr. *obstructus, TT7^. Fam. DiAPKiD^, Hal. Diapria, Latr. apicalis, Wlk. Order, licpidoptera, Linn. Fam.PAPiLiONiD^, Leach. Ornithoptera, Boisd. Darsius, G. R. Gray. Papilio, Linn. Diphilus, Esp. Jophon, G. R. Gray. Hector, Linn. Romulus, Cram. Polymnestor, Cram. Crino, Fabr. Heleims, Linn. Pammoii, Linn. Polytes, Linn. Erithonius, Cram. Antipathis, Cram. Agamemnon, Linn. Euryp'lus, Linn. 'BAihyc\&s,Zinch-Som. Sarpedon, Linn. dissimilis, Linn. Pontia, Fabr. Nina, Fabr. Picris, Schr. Eucharis, Drury, Coronis, Cram. Epicliaris, Godt. Nama, Doubt. Remba, Muore. Mesentina, Godt. Sevcrina, Cram. Namouiia, Doubl. Pliryne, Fabr. Paulina, Godt. Thestylis, Boubl. Callosunc, Doubl. Eucharis, Fabr. Danae, Fabr. Etrida, Boisd. Idmais, Boisd. Calais, Cram. Thestias, Boisd. Mariamne, Cram. Pircne, Linn. Hebomoia, Hiihn. Glaucippc, Linn. Eronia, Hiibn. Valeria, Cram^ Callidryas, Boisd. Pliillipina, Boisd. Pyranthe, Linn. Hilaria, Cram. Alcmeone, Cram. Tliisorella, Boisd. Terias, Swaiti. Drona, Horsf. Hecabe, Linn. Fam.NTMPHALiD^, Stt'atn. Euploea, Fabr. Prothoe, Godt. Core, Cram. Alcathoe, Godt. Danais, Latr. Chrysippus, Linn. Plexippus, Linn. Aglae, Cram. Melissa, Cram. Limniacffi, Cram. Juventa, Cram. Hestia, Hilbn. Jason ia, Wcstw. Telchinia, Hiibn. violse, Fabr. Cethosia, Fabr. Cyane, Fabr. Messarus, Doubl. Erymanthis, Drury. Atella, Doubl. Phalanta, Drury. Argynnis, Fubr. Is'iplie, Linn. Clagia, Godt. Ergolis, Boisd. Taprobana, West. Vanessa, Fabr. Charonia, Drury. Libythea, Fabr. Wedhavina, Wlk. Pushcara, Wlk. Pyrameis, Hiibn. Charonia, Drury. C.ardui, Linn. Callirhoe, Hiibn. Junoiiia, Hiibn. Limonias, Linn. QJinone, Linn. Orithyia, Lijin. Laomedia, Linn. Asterie, Linn. Precis, Hiibn. Ijihita, Cram. Cynthia, Fabr. Arsinoe, Cram. Parthenos, Hiibn. Gambrisius, Fabr. Limenitis, Fabr. Calidusa, Moore. Neptis, Fabr. Heliodore, Fabr. Columella, Cram. aceris, Fabr. Jumbah, Moore. Ilordonia, Sloll. Diadema, Boisd. Auge, Cram. Bolina, Linn. Sympha:dra, Hilbn. Thyelia, Fabr. Adolias, Boisd. Evelina, Stoll. Lub.'Htina, Fabr. Vasanta, Moore. Garuda, Moore. Nymphalis, Latr. Psaphon, Westio. Bernard us, Fabr. Athamas, Cram, Fab i us, Fabr. Kallima, Doubl. Philarchus, Westw. Melanitis, Fabr. Banksia, Fabr. Leda, Linn. Casiphone, G.R. Gray. undularis, Boisd, Ypththima, Hiibn. Lysandra, Cram. Parthalis. Mlk. Cyllo, Boisd. Gorya, \Mk. Cathffina, Wlk. Embolima, Wlk. Neilgherriensis, Gucr. Purimata, Wlk. Pushpamitra, Wlk. Mycalesis, Hiibn. Patnia, Moore. Gamaliba, Wlk. Dosai'on, Wlk. Samba, Moore. Cscnonympha, Hiibn. 284 Euaspla, Wlk. Emesis, Fabr. Echerius, Stall. Earn. LyC^enim;, Leach. Anops, Boisd. Bulis, Boisd. Thetys, Druri/. Loxura, Hursf. Atymnus, Cram. Myrina, Godt. Selimnus, Doubled. Triopas, Cram. Amblypodia, Horsf. Longiims, Fabr. Narada, Horsf. Pseudoccntaui-us, Do. quercetorum, Boisa. Aphnceus, Hiibn. Pindarus, Fabr. Etolus, Cram. Hephcestos, Doubled. Croius, Doubled. Dipsas, Doubled. Chrysomallos, Hiibn. Isocrates, Fabr. Lycaena, Fabr. Alexis, Stoll. Boetica, Linn. Cnejus, Horsf. Rosimon, Fubr. Tlieophrastus, Fabr. Pluto, Fabr. Parana, Horsf. Nyseus, Guer. Ethion, Boisd. Celeno, Cram. Kandarpa, Horsf. Elpis, Godt. Chimonas, Wlk. Gandara, Wlk. Chorienis, Wlk. Geria, Wlk. Doanas, Wlk. Sunya, Wlk. Audhra, Wlk. Polyommatus, Latr. Akasa, Horsf. Puspa, Horsf. Laius, Cram. Ethion, Boisd. Cattigara, Wlk. Gorgippia, Wlk. Lucia, Westw. Epius, Westw. Pithccops, Horsf. Hylax, Fabr. Earn. HESPERiDiE, Steph. Goniloba, Westw. lapetus, Cram. ZOOLOGY. Pyrgns, Hiibn. Superna, Moore. Dauna, Moore. Genta, Wlk. Sydrus, Wlk. Nisoniades, Hiibn. Diodes, Boisd. Salsala, Moore. Toides, Wlk. Pampliila, Fabr. Angi;»P, Linn. Acliylodcs, Hiibn. Teniala, Wlk. Hcsperia, Fabr. Indrani, Moore. Cliaya, Moore. Cinnara, Moore. gremius, Latr. Cendofhatos, Wlk. Tiagava, Wlk. Cotiaris, Wlk. Sigala, Wlk. Earn. SniiNGiD^, Leach. Scsia, Fabr. Hylas, Linn Macroglossa, Och.f. Stellatarum, Linn. gyrans, Boisd. Corythus, Boisd. divergcns, Wlk. Calymnia, Boisd. Panopus, Cram. Choerocampa, Dup. Thyelia, Linn. Nyssus, Drury. Clotho, Drury. Oldenlandia;, Fabr. Lycetus, Cram. Silhetensis. Boisd. Pergesa, Wlk. Acteus, Cram. Panacra, Wlk. ■vigil, Gaer. Daphnis, Hiibn. Kerii, Linn. Zonilia, Boisd Morpheus, Cram. Macrosila, Boisd. obliqua, Wlk. discistriga, Wlk. Sphinx, Linn. convolvuli, Linn. Acheron tia, Ochs. Satanas, Boisd. Smerinthus, I^atr. Dryas, Boisd. Earn. Castniid^, Wlk. Eusemia, Dalm. bellatrix, Westw. [Part II. ^gocera, Latr. Venulia, Cram. bimacula, Wlk. Earn. ZYGiENiDiE, Leach. Syntomis, Ochs. Schoenherri, Boisd. Creusa, Linn. Imaon, Cram. Glaucopis, Fabr. subaurata, Wlk. Enchromia, Hiibn. Polymena, Cram. diuiiiiuta, Wlk. Earn. LiTHOSiiD.-E, Steph. Scaptesyle, Wlk. bieoior, Wlk. Nyctemera, Hiibn. lacticinia, Cram. latistriga. ^^'^k. Coleta, Cram. Euschema, Hiibn. subreplcta, Wlk. transversa, Wlk. vilis, Wlk. Chalcosia, HUbn. Tiberina, Cram. venosa. Anon. Etcrusia, Hope. ^dea, Linn. Trvpanophora, Koll. Taprabanes, Wlk. Heteroimn, Wlk. scintillans, Wlk. Ilypsa, Hiibn. plana, Wlk. caricse, Fabr. ficus, Fabr. Vitessa, 31oor. Zemire, Cram. Lithosia, Fabr. antica, Wlk. brevipennis, Wlk. Setina, Schr. semifascia, Wlk. solita, Wlk. Doliche, Wlk. hilaris, Wlk. Pitane, Wlk. conserta, Wlk. ^mene, Wlk. Taprobanes, Wlk. Diradcs, Wlk. aitacoides, Wlk. Cyllene, Wlk. transversa, Wlk. *spoliata, Wlk. Bizone, Wlk. subornata, Wlk. peregrina, Wlk. Cnxp. VI.] CEYLON INSECTS. 285 Deiopeia, Steph. pulcliclla, Linn. Astrea, Dnuy. Argus, KoUar. Ftiin. Arctiid^, Leach. Alope, Wlk. ocellif'cra, Wlk. Sangarida, Cram. Tinolius, Wlk. eburiieigutta, Wlk. Crcatonotos, Hiibn. interrupta, Linn. emittens, Wlk. Acmonia, Wlk. litliosioides, Wlk. Spilosoma, Steph. subfascia, Wlk. Cycnia, Hilhn. rubida, Wlk. sparsigiitta, Wlk. Anthcua, Wlk. discalis. Wlk. Aloa, Wlk. lactinea, Cram. caiididula, Wlk. erosa, Wlk. Amerila, Wlk. Melanthns, Cram. Ammatlio, Wlk. cunionotatus, Wlk. Fam. LirARiD^E, Wlk. Artaxa, Wlk. guttata, Wlk. *varians, Wlk. atomaria, Wlk. Acyphas, ^Vlk. viridesceTis, Wlk. Lacida, Wlk. rotundatii, Wlk. antica, Wlk. subnotata, Wlk. complens, Wlk. promittens, Wlk. strigulifera, Wlk. Amsacta ? Wlk. tencbrosa, Wlk. Antipha, Wlk. costal is, Wlk. Aiiaxila, Wlk. iiotata, Wlk. Procodeca, Wlk. angulifera, Wlk. Rcdoa, Wlk. submarginata, Wlk. Euproctis, Hiibn. virguncula, Wlk. bimaculata, Wlk. lunata, Wlk. tiuctifcra, Wlk. Cispia, Wlk. plagiata, Wlk. Dasychira, Hiibn. pudibunda, Linn. Lyniantria, Hiibn. grand is, Wlk. margiiiata, Wlk. Enome, Wlk. ampla, Wlk. Dreata, Wlk. pi u mi pes, Wlk. gemiiiata, Wlk. mutans, Wlk. mollifera. Wlk. Pandala, Wlk. dolosa, Wlk. Charnidas, Wlk. junctif'era, Wlk. Fam PsYCHiD^E, Bru. Psyche, Schr. Doubled aii, Westw. Mctisa. Wlk. plana, Wlk. Eunieta, Wlk. Cramerii, Westw. Templetonii, Westw. Cryptothelea, Tempi. consorta, Tempi. Fam. NOTODONTID.E, St. Ccrura, Schr. liturata, Wlk. Stauropus, Germ. altcrnans, Wlk. Nioda, Wlk. fusiformis, Wlk. transversa, Wlk. Rilia, Wlk. lanceolata, mk. basivitta, Wlk. Ptilomacra, Wlk. juvenis, Wlk. Elavia, Wlk. metaphaja, Wlk. Notodonta, Ochs. ejecta, Wlk. Ichthyura, Hiibn. restituens, Wlk. Fam. LiMACODiD^, Dup. Scopelodes, Westw. unicolor, Westiv. Messata, Wlk. rubiginosa, Wlk. Miresa, Wlk. argentifcra, Wlk. aperiens, Wlk- Nyssia, Herr. Sch. lieta, We.Uw. Neoera, Herr. Sch. graciosa, Westw. Narosa, Wlk. conspcrsn, Wlk. Naprepa, Wlk. varians, Wlk. Fam. Drepanulid^e, Wlk. Oreta, Wlk. suftiisa, Wlk. extensa, Wlk. Arna, Wlk. apicalis, Wlk. Ganisa, Wlk. postica, Wlk. Fam. Saturinidje, Wlk. Attacus, Linn. Atlas, Linn. lunula, Amrn. Anthera^a, Hiibn. Mylitta, Drurij. Assama, Westw. Tropoea, Hiibn. Selene, Hiibn. Fam. BoMByciD^E, Steph. Trabala, Wlk. basalis, Wlk. pi-asina, Wlk. Lasiocampa, Schr. tri fascia, Wlk. Megasoma, Boisd. venustum, Wlk. Lebeda, Wlk. repanda, Wlk. plagiata, W^k. bimaculata, Wlk. scriptiplaga, Wlk. Fam. CossiD^, Newm. Cossus, Fabr. quadrinotatus, Wlk. Zeuzera, Lutr. leucoiiota, Steph. pusilla, Wlk. Fam. IlEPiALiDiE, Steph. Phassus, Steph. sigiiifcr, Wlk. Fam. Cymatophgrid^, Herr. Sch. Thyatira, Ochs. repugnans, Wlk. Fam. Bkyopiiilid^, Guen. Bryojiliila, Treit. scniipars, Wlk. 286 ZOOLOGY. [Part II. ram. BoMBYCOiD^, Gain. Diplitera, Ochs. deceptura, Wlk. Fam. LEUCANiDiE, Gum. Leucania, Ochs. confusa, Wlk. exempta, Wlk. infcrcns, Wlk. coUecta, Wlk. Brada, Wlk. truiicata, Wlk. Crambopsis, Wlk. excludens, Wlk. Fam. Glottulid.e, Guen. Polytela, Guen. gloriosa, Fabr. Glottula. Guen. Dominica, Cram. Chasmina, Wlk. pavo, Wlk. cygnus, Wlk. Fam. APAMiDiE, Guen. Lapliygma, Guen. obstans, Wlk. trajiciens, Wlk. Prodenia, Guen. retina, Friv. glaucistriga, Wlk. apertura, Wlk. Calogramma, Wlk. festiva, Don. Heliophobus, Bohd. discrcp.ans, Wlk. Hydi-fficia, Guen. lampadifera, Wlk. Apamea, Ochs. undeeilia, Wlk. Celajna, Steph. serva, Wlk. Fam. Car A.DRTNID.E, Guen. Amyna, Guen, selenampha, Guen. Fam. NocTUiD^, Guen. A grot is, Ochs. aristifera, Guer. congrua, Wlk. punctipes, ^^^k. mundata, Wlk. transducta, Wlk. plagiata, Wlk. plagifera, Wlk. Fam. HADEN1DJ5, Guen. Envois, Hiibn. auriplena,Tr//^ inclnsa, Wlk. Epiceia, Wlk. subsignata, Wlk. Hadena, Treit. subcnrva, Wlk. postica, Wlk. retraliens, Wlk. confnndens, Wlk. congressa, Wlk. rnptistriga, Wlk. Ansa, Wlk. filipalpis, Wlk. Fam. XxLiNiDiE, Guen. Kagada, Wlk. pyrorclu-oma, Wlk. Cryassa, Wlk. bifacies, ^Vlk. Egelista, Wlk. rudivitta, Wlk. Xylina, Ochs. deflexa, Wlk. inchoans, Wlk. Fam. Heliothid^, Guen. Heliothis, Ochs. armigera, Hiibn. Fam.HiEMEROSiD^, Guen. Ariola, Wlk. coelisigna, Wlk. dilectissima, Wlk. saturata, Wlk. Fam. AcoNTiD^. Gue'n. Xantbodcs, Guen. intcrscpta, Guen. Acontia, Ochs. tropica, Guen. olivacea, Wlk. fascicnlosa, Wk. signifera, Wlk. turpis, ^Mk. mianoides, Wlk. approximans, Wlk. divnlsa, Wlk. *egens, Wlk. plenicosta, Wlk. determinata, Wlk. hypsetroides, Wlk. Chlnmetia, IF/A. multilinca, Wlk. Fam. Anthophilid.e, Guen. Micra, Guen. destitnta, Wlk. derogata, Wlk. simplex, Wlk. Fam. Ekiopid^., Guen. Callopistria, Hiibn. exotica, Gu6n. rivularis, Wlk. duplicans, Wlk. Fam. EuRHipiD^, Guen. Penicillaria, Guen. nugatrix, Guen. resoluta, Wlk. solid a, Wlk. ludatrix, Wlk. Kbesala, Wlk. imparata, Wlk. Eutelia, Hiibn. favillatrix, Wlk. thermesiides, Wlk. Fam. Plusiid^e, Boisd. Abrostola, Ochs. transfixa, Wlk. Plusia, Ochs. aurifera, Hiibn. vcrticillata, Guen. agramma, Guen. obtnsisigna, Wlk. nigrilnna, Wlk. signata, Wlk. dispellens, Wlk. propulsa, Wlk. Fam. Calpid^e, Guen. Calpe, Treit. niinuticornis, Guen. Orojsia, Guen. emarginata, Fabr. Deva, Wlk. conducens, Wlk. Fam. Hemicerid^, Guen. Westermannia, Hiibn. superba, Hiibn. Fam. Htbl^id^, Guen. Hyblsea, Guen. Puera, Cram. constellata, Guen. I Nolasena, Wk. I ferrifervens, Wlk. Fam.GoNOPTKRiDiE, Guen. Cosmopbila, Boisd. Indica, Guen. xanthindyma, Boisi. Anomis, Hiibn. fiilvida, Guen. iconica, Wlk. Gonitis, Guen. combiiians, Wlk. albiiibia, Wlk. mesogona, Wlk. guttanivis, Wlk. involuta, Wlk. Chap. VI.] CEYLON INSECTS. 287 basalis, Wl/t. Eporedia, Wlk. damnipcnnis, Wlk. Rusicada, Wlk. ^ nigritarsis, WUt. Pasipeda, Wl/i.^ rufipalpis, Wlk. Fam. ToxocAMPiD^, Guen. Toxocampa, Guen. metaspila, Wlk. sexlinca, Wlk. quiiiquelina, Wlk. Albouica, Wlk. I'evei'sa, Wlk. ram.POLYDES3IID.T3, GuCll. Polydesma, Boisd. boarmoides, Wlk. erubescens, Wlk. Pam.HOMOPTERIDiE,J?0/s. Alarais, Guin. spoliata, Wlk. Iloiiioptera, Boi.td. basipallcns, Wlk. rctrabons, Wlk. costilcra, Wlk. divisistriga, Wlk. prociunbens, Wlk. Diacuista, Wlk. homopteroides, Wlk. Daxata, Wlk. bijungens, Wlk. Fain. IlTPOGKAMMlDiE, Guen. Briarda, Wlk. prccedcns, Wlk. Braiia, Wlk. calopasa, Wlk. Corsa, Wlk. lignicolor, Wlk. Avatha, Wlk. iiicludcns, Wlk. Gadii-tha, Wlk. decrescens, Wlk. impiiigens. Wlk. spurcata, Wlk. rectifera, Wlk. duplicans, Win. intrusa, Wlk. Erchcia, Wlk. diversipennis, Wlk. Plotheia, Wlk. frontalis, Wlk. Piomea, Wlk. rotundata, Wlk. chloromela, Wlk. orbicularis, Wlk. muscosa, TI7A. Dinumma, ^Mk. l)laccns, Wlk. Lusia, Wlk. geomctroides, Wlk. perficita, Wlk. rcjjulsa, Wlk. Abuuis, mk. trimesa, Wlk. Earn. Catephid^, Guen Cocytodes, Guen. coirula, Gw'n. niodesta, Wik. Catopliia, Ochs. lintcola, Guen. Anophia, Guen. acronyetoides, Gum. Steiria, Wlk. subobliqua, Wlk. trajiciens, Wlk. Aucha, Wlk. velans, Wlk. iEgilia, Wlk. describens, Wlk. Maceda, Wlk. niansucta, Wlk. Earn. Htpocalid^, Guen. Hypocala, Gum. effloresccns, Guen. subsatura, Guen. Earn. CATOCALiDiE, Boisd. Blenina, Wk. donans, Wlk. accipiens, Wlk. Earn. OPHIDERlDyE, Guai. Opliideres, Boisd. Materna, Linn. fnllonica. Linn. Cajcta, Cram. Ancilla, Cram. Salaminia, Cram. Hypermnestra, Cram. multiscripta, Wlk. bilineosa, "[Mk. Potamopbera, Guen. ]\Ianlia, Cram. Lygiiiodcs, Guen. rcduccns, Wlk. disparans, Wlk. hypoleuca, Guen. Earn. Erebid^, Guen. Oxyodes, Guen. Clytia, Cram. Earn. Ojimatopiiouid^, Guen. Speircdonia, Hiihn. rctraheiis, Wlk. Scriria, Guen. anops, Guen. parvipennis, Wik. Patula, Guen. macrops, Linn, Argiva, Hiihn. hieroglv]iluca, Drury. Beregra, 'Wlk. replcnens, Wlk. Earn. IIypopyrid.e, Guen. Spiraniia, GvUn. Ileliconia, Hiihn. triloba, Guen. Hypopyra, Guen. vespertilio, Fuhr, Ortospana, Wlk. connectens, Wlk. Entomogranima, Guen. fautrix, Guen. Earn. Bendid^, Guen. Homrea, Guen. clathruni, Guen, Hulodes, Guen. caranca, Cram. paluraba, Guen. Earn. OPHiDSiDiE, Guen. Spbiiigomorpba, Guen. Cblorea, Cram. Lagoptera, Guen. honesta, Hiihn. magica, Hiihn. dotata, Fahr. Ophiodes, Guen. discriminans, Wlk, basistigma, Wlk. Cerbia, Wlk. fugiliva, Wlk. Opbisma, Guen. Iserabilis, Guen. deficiens, Wlk. gravata, Wlk. circumferens, Wlk. tcnninans, Wlk. Acbaea, Hiihn. Moliccrta, Drury. Mezentia, Cram. Cyllota, Guen. Cyllaria, Cram. fusifera, Wlk. signivitta. Wlk. revorsa, Wlk. conibinans, Wlk. cxpectans, Wik. 288 Serrotles, Gum. campana, Gucn. Naxia, GuCn. ^ absentimacula, Guen. Onelia, Gum. calefaciens, Wlk. calorifica, Wlk. Calfsia, Guen. hoemonhoda, Guen. Hypsetra. Guen. trigonifeva, Wlk. curvifera, Wik. condita, Wlk. complacens, Wlk. divisa, Wlk. Ophiusa, Oclis. myops, Gum. albivitta, Guen. Achatina, Sulz. fulvotaania, Guen. simillima, Guen. festinata, Wlk. pallidilinea, Wlk. luteipalpis, Wlk. Fodina, Guen. stola, Gum. Graminodes, Guen. Ammonia, Cram. My5J;don, Cram. stulida, Fahr. mundicolor, Wlk. Fam. EucLiDiD^, Gum. Trigonodes, Gum. Hippasia, Cram. ram. Kemigid^, Gum. Eemigia, Guen. Avchesia, Cram. frugalis, Fabr. pertendens, Wlk. congregata, Wlk. opturata, Wlk. ram. FociLLiDiE, Gum. Focilla, Gum. submemorans, vviA. Fam. Amphiganid^, Guen. Lacera, Guen. capella, Gum. Araphigonia, Guen^ hepatizans, Guen. Fam. Thermisid^, Gum. Sympis, Gum. rufibasis, Gucn. Therraesia, Hiihn. ZOOLOGY. finipalpis, Wlk. soluta, Wlk. Azazia, Wlk. rubricans, Boisd. Selenis, Gum. nivisapex, Wlk. multiguttata, Wlk. semilux, Wlk. Ephyrodes, Guen. excipiens, Wlk. cristisfera, Wlk. lineifera, Wlk. Capnodes, Gum. *maculici sta, Wlk. Ballatha, Wlk. atromraens, Wlk. Daranissa, Wlk. digramma, Wlk. Darsa, Wlk. defectissima, Wlk. Fam. TjRAPTERTD-EjGfa'n. Lagyra, Wlk. Talaca, Wlk. Fam. Ennomid-e, Gucn. Hyperythra, Gum. limbolaria, Guen deiiuctarin, Wlk Orsonoba, Wlk. Rajaca, Wlk. Sabaria, Wlk. contractaria, Wlk. Anperona, Dup. blaiidiaria, Wlk. Fascellina, Wlk. chromatavia, Wlk. Fam. BoARMiD^, Gum. Arablychia, Guen. angeronia, Gum. Hemerophila, Steph. Vidhisara, Wlk. poststvigaria, Wlk. Boarmia, Treit. sublavaria, Gum. admissaria, Gucn. raptaria, Wlk. Medasina, Wlk. Bhurmitra, Wlk. Suiasasa, Wlk. diffluana, Wlk. caritaria, Wlk. exclusaria, Wlk. Hypochroma, Gum. niinimaria, Guen. Gnopbos, Treit. Puliiida, Wlk. Culataria, Wlk. [Part II. Agatbia, Guen. blandiaria, Wlk. Bulonga, Wlk. Ajaia, Wlk. Chacoraca, Wlk. Chandubija, Wlk. Fam. Gbometrid^, Guen. Geometra, Linn. specuUiria, Guen. Nanda, Wlk, Nemoria, Hiibn. caudularia, Guen. solidaria. Gum. Thalassodes, Guen. quadraria, Gum. catenaria, Wlk. immissaria, Wlk. Sisunaga, Wlk. adoniataria, Wlk. irieritaria, Wlk. coebitaria, Wlk. gratularia, Wlk. chlorozonaria, Wlk. laisaria, Wlk. simpliciaria, Wlk. immissaria, Wlk. Comibsena, Wlk. Divapala, Wlk. irapul-avia, Wlk. Celeuiia, Wlk. saturaturia, Wlk. Pseudoterpna, Wlk. Vivilaca, Wlk. Amaurinia, Guen. rubrolimbaria, Wlk. Fam. Palyad^e, Guhu Eumelea. Dune. ludovicata, Guen. aureliata, Guen. carnearia, Wlk. Fam. EpiiYRiDiE, Gum. Ephyra, Dup. obrinaria, Wlk. decursaria, Wlk. Cacavena, Wlk. abhadraca, Wlk. Vasudeva, Wlk. Susarmaiia, Wlk. Vutumaiia, Wlk. inajquata, Wlk. Fam. AciDALiD^, Gum. Drapetodes, Guen. mitaria. Gum. Pomasia, Guen. Psylaria, Gum. Sunaudaria, Wlk. Chap. VI.] CEYLON INSECTS. -2 SO Aciilalia, Titit. obliviaria, Wife. adeptaiia, WIL nexiaria, Wlk. addictaria, WIL actiosaria, W/k. defamataria, Wlk. negataria, Wlk. actuaria, Wlk. cajsaria, TT7A, Cabera, Steph. falsaria, Wlk. decussaria, Wlk, famularia, Wlk. nigrarenaria, Wlk. Ilyria, Steph. elatariu, Wlk. marcidaria, Wlk. oblataria, Wlk. grataria, Wlk. rhodinaria, Wlk. Timandra, Dup. Ajuia, Wlk. Vijuia, Wlk. Agyris, Guen. deliaria, Guen. ZiU\clo\)teryx,He?r.Sch saponaria, Herr. Scli. Fam. MiCKONiDiE, Guen. Micronia, Guen. caudata, Fabr. aculeata, Guen, Fam. Macarid^, Guen. Macaria, Curt. Eleonora, Cram. Varisara, Wlk. Rhagivata, Wlk. Palaca, Wlk. honestaria, Wlk. San gat a, Wlk. honoraria, Wlk. cessaria, Wlk. subcaudaria, Wlk. Duava, Wlk. adjiitaria, Wlk. figuraria, Wlk. Fain. LARENTiDiE, Gu6n. Sauris, Guen. hirudinata, Guen. Camptogramma, Steph. baccata, Guen. Blemyia, Wlk. Bataca, Wlk. blitiaria, Wlk. Coremia, Guen. Gomatina, Wlk. L'jbophora, Cu7t. Salisuca, Wlk, VOL. I. Ghojlia, Wlk. coiitribiitaria, Wlk. llcsogramma, Steph, lactularia, Wlk. scitaria, Wlk. Eupithccia, Curt. recensitaria, Wlk. admixtaria, Wlk. immixtaria, Wlk. Gathynia, Wlk. miraria, TT7/(. Fam. Plattdid.*:, Guen. Trigonia, Guen. Cydonialis, Cram. Fam. HypENiDiE, Herr. Sch. Dichromin, Guen. Orosialis, Cram. Ilypena, Schr. rhombalis. Guen, jocosalis, Wlk. maudatalis, Wlk, qusesitalis, Wlk. laceratalis, Wlk, iconicalis, Wlk. labatalis, W/k. obaceiralis. ]Vlk. pactalis, Wlk. raralis, Wlk. paritalis, Wlk. surreptalis, Wlk. detersalis, Wlk. ineffectalis, Wlk. iiicongrualis, Wlk. rubripunctum, Wlk. Gesonia, Wlk. "obeditalis, Wlk, duplex, Wlk. Fam. Hekmixid^, Dup. Herminia, Lair. Timonalis, Wlk. diffusalis, W/k. iiiterstans, Wlk. Adrapsa, Wlk. ablualis, Wlk. B.rtula, Wlk. abjudicalis, Wlk. raptatulis, Wlk. coiuigens, Wlk. Bocana, Wlk. jutalis, Wlk. manifestalis, Wlk. ophiusalis, ]Vlk. vagalis, Wlk. tui'patalis, Wlk. hypernalis, Wlk. gravatalis, Wlk. tumidalis, Wlk. U Oitliaga, Wlk. Eiiadnisnlis, Wlk. Hipoepa, Wlk. lapsalis, Wlk. Lainura, Wlk. obcrratalis, Wlk. Echana, Wlk. abavalis, Wlk. Dragana, Wlk. paiisalis, Wlk. Pingrasa, W/k. accuralis, Wlk. Egnasia, Wlk. ephyradalis, Wlk. accingalis, 117,^. partici])alis, Wlk. usurpatalis, Wlk. Berresa, Wlk. natalis, Wlk. Iiuma, W/k. riigosalis, Wlk. Clmsaris, Wlk. rctatalis, Wlk. Corgatha, Wlk. Z(jnalis, Wlk, Catada, Wlk. glomeralis, Wlk. captiosalis, Wlk. Fam. PrRALiD^, Guen. Pyralis. Linn. ignifliialis, Wlk. Palesalis, Wlk. reconditalis, Wlk. Idalialis, Wlk. Janassalis, Wlk. Aglossa, Ldtr. Giiidusalis, Wlk. Eabanda, Wlk, herbealis. Wlk, Fam. Ennychid.e, Dup. Pyrausta, Schr. *absistalis, Wlk. Fam, AsoPiD.E, Guen. Desmia, Wes/w. afflictalis, Gum. concisalio, Wlk. ^iliodes, Guen. flavibasalis, Guen, eftcrtalis, Wlk. Samoa, Guen. gratiosalis, Wlk. Asopia, Guen. vulgalls, Guen. falsidicalis, Wlk. abniptalis, Wlk. latimarginalis, Wlk. prajteritalis, Wlk. Eryxalis, Wlk. 290 ZOOLOGY. [Part II. roridalis, TT7A. Agathodes, Guen. ostentalis, Geyer. Leucinades, Guen. orbonalis, Guen. Hymenia, Hiibn. recurvalis. Fair. Agrotera, Schr. suffusalis, Wlk. decessalis. Wlk. Isopteryx, Guen. *melaleucalis, Wlk. *impulsalis, Wlk. *spiIomelalis, Wlk. acclaralis, Wlk. abnegatalis, Wlk. Fam. Hydrocampid^, Guen. Oligostigma, Guen. obitalis, Wlk. Totalis, Wlk. Cataclysta, Herr. Sch. dilucidalis, Guer. bisectalis, Wlk. blandialis, Wlk. elutalis, Wlk. Fam.SpiLOMELiDiE, Guen. Lepyrodes, Guen. geometralis, Gu6n. lepidalis, Wlk. peritalis, Wlk. Phalangiodes, Guen. Neptisiilis, Cram. Spilomela, Guen. meri talis, Wlk. abdicalis, Wlk. decussalis, Wlk. aurolinealis, Wlk. Nistra, Wlk. coelatalis, Wlk. Pagyda, Wlk. salvalis, Wlk. Massepha, Wlk. absolutalis, Wlk. ram. MargarodidjE, Gum. Glyphodes, Guen. diurnalis, Guen. decretalis, Guen. coesalis, Wlk. univocalis, mk. Phakellura, L Guild. gazorialis, Guen. Margarodcs, Guen. psittacalis, Hiibn. pomonalis, Guen. hilaraiis, Wlk. Pygospila, Guen. Tyrescilis, Cram. Neuriiia, Guen. Procopialis, Cram. ignibasalis, Wlk. Ilurgia, Wlk. def'amalis, Wlk. Mariica, Wlk. ruptalis, Wlk. caritalis, Wlk. Fam. BoTTD^, Gum. Botys, Lair. marginalis, Cram. sellalis, Guen. multilinealis, Guen. admensalis, Wlk. abjungalis, Wlk, rutilalis, Wlk. admixtalis, Wlk. celatalis, Wlk. deductalis, Wlk. celsalis, Wlk. vulsalis, Wlk. ultimalis, Wik. tropicalis, Wlk. abstrusalis, Wlk. rnralis, Wlk. adhcesalis, Wlk. illisalis, Wlk. stultalis, Wlk. adductalis, Wlk. histricalis, Wlk. illectalis, Wlk. suspicalis, Wlk. Janassalis, Wlk. Nephealis, Wlk. Cynaralis, Wlk. Dialis, Wlk. Thaisalis, Wlk. Dryopealis, ^Vlk. Myrinalis, Wlk. phycidalis, Wlk. annulalis, Wlk. brevilinealis, Wlk. plagiatalis, Wlk. Ebulea, Guen. aberratalis, Wlk. Camillalis, Wlk. Pionea, Guen. actnalis, Wlk. Optiletalis, Wlk. Jubesalis, Wlk. brevialis, Wlk. sutfusalis, Wlk. Scopula, Schr. revocatalis, Wlk. turgidalis, Wlk. voliuatali.s, Wlk. Godara, Wlk. pervasalis, Wlk. Ilerculia, Wlk. bractialis, Wlk. Mecyna, Guen. deprivalis, Wlk. Fam. ScoPARiD^, Guen. Scoparia, Haw. murificalis, Wlk. congestalis, Wlk. Alconalis, Wlk. Davana, ]Vlk. Phalantalis, Wlk. Darsaiiia, Wlk. Niobesalis, Wlk. Dosara, Wlk. coelatella, Wlk. lapsalis, Wlk. immeritalis, Wlk. Fam. Choreutid^, Slaitit. Niaccaba, Wlk. sumptialis, Wlk. Simgethis, Leach. Clatella, Wlk. Damonella, Wlk. Bathusella, Wlk. Fam. PHYCiDiE, S taint. Myeiois, Hiibn. actiosclla, Wlk. bractiatella, Wlk. cautella, Wlk. adaptella, Wlk. illusulla, Wlk. basifiiscclla, Wlk. Ligeralis, Wlk. Marsyasalis, Wlk. Dascusa, Wlk. Valeiisalis, Wlk. Daroma, Wlk. Zeuxoalis, Wlk. Epiilusalis, Wlk. Timeusalis, Wlk. Homoesoma, Curt. gratelia, Wlk. Getusella, Wlk. Nephopteryx, Hiibn. Etoiusalis, Wlk. Cyllusalis, Wlk. tlylasalis, Wlk. Acisalis, Wlk. Harpaxalis, Wlk. JEo\usa.Us, Wlk. Argiadesalis, Wlk. Philiasalis, Wlk. Pempelia, Hiibn. laudatella, Wlk. Prionapteryx, Steph. Lincusalis, \flk. Chap. VI.] CEYLON INSECTS. 291 Piiidicitoni, Wl/i. Acreoiiali^, Wl/c. Annusalis, Wl/t. Thysbesalis, Wlk. Linceusalis, Wlk. Lacipea, Wlk. muscosella, Wlk. Araxes, Stepk. admotella, Wk. decusella, Wlk. celsella, Wlk. admigratelLi, Wlk. coesella, Wlk. candidatella, Wlk. Catagela, Wlk. adjiirt'lla. Wlk. acricuella, ^^'^k. luiiulella, Wlk. Fam. CRAMBID.E, Dup. Crambus, Fabr. concinellus, Wlk. Darbhaca, Wtk. inceptella, \Mk. Jartheza, Wlk. honorella, Wlk. Bulina. Wlk. solitella, Wlk. Bembina, Wlk. Cyanusalis, Wlk. Chilo, Zinck. dodatella, Wlk. gratiosella, Wlk, aditella, Wlk. blitella, Wlk. Dariausa, Wlk. Eubusalis, Wlk. Arrhade, Wlk. Einatbeonalis, Wlk. Darnensis, Wlk. Strephonella, Wlk. Fam. CHL(EPHORlD.ffi, S taint. Thagora, Wlk. figurans, WIL Earias, Hilbn. chromatana, Wlk. Fam. ToRTRiciD^, Steph. LozotiEnia, Steph. retract an a, Wlk. Peronea, Curt. divisaua, Wlk. Lithogramma, Steph. flexilineana, Wlk. Dictyopteryx, Steph. punctana, Wlk. Homona, Wlk, fasciculana, Wlk. Hcmonia, Wlk- orbiferana, Wlk. Achroia, Hiibn. tricingulana, Wlk. Fam. Yponomedtid^, Steph. Atteva, Wlk. niveigutta, Wlk. Fam. Gelichid^ Staint. Depres.saria, Ham. obligatella, Wlk. fimbriella, Wlk. Decuaria, Wlk. mendicelln, Wlk. Gelechia, Hiibn. nugatella, Wlk. calatella, Wlk. deductella, ^Mk. Perionella, W Ik. Gizama, Wlk. blandiella, Wlk. Enisipia, Wlk. falsella, Wlk. Gapharia. Wlk. recitatella, Wlk. Goesa, Wlk. decusella, Wlk. Ciraitra, Wlk. seclusella, Wlk. Ficulea, Wlk. blandulella, Mlk. Fresilia, Wlk. nesciatella, Wlk. Gesontha, Wlk. captiosella, Wlk. Agin is, Wlk. hilariella, Wlk. Cadra, Wlk. defectella, Wlk. Fam. Gl.TFHYPTID^, Staint Glyphyteryx, Hiibn. scitulella, Wlk. Hybcle, Wlk. mansuetella, Wlk. Fam. TiNEiDJE, Leach. Tinea, Linn. tapetzella, lAnn. receptella, Wlk. pclioiiella, Linn. plagifcrella. Wlk. Fam. Lyoxetid.e, Staint. Cachura, Wlk. objcctella, Wlk.\ V % Fam.PTEROPnoRiD^, Zell. Pterophorus, Geoffr. leucadactylus, Wlk. oxydactylus, Wlk. anisodactylus, Wlk. Order Siptera, Linn. Fam. Mycetophilidje, Hal. Sciara, Meig. *valida, Wlk. Fam. CECiDOMTZiDiE, Hal. Cecidomyia, Latr. *primaria, Wlk. Fam. S1MDI.ID.E, Hal. Simulium, iMtr. *destinatum, Wlk. Fam. Chironomid^, Hal. Ceratopogon, Meig. *albociuctus, Wlk. Fam. CuLiciDiE, Steph. Culex, Linn. regius, Thwaites. fuscaiius, Wied. circumvolans, Wlk. contrahens, Wlk. Fam. TiPULiD/E, Hal. Ctenophora, Fabr, Taprobanes, Wlk. Gymnoplistia ? Westw. hebes, Wlk. Fam. SxRATioMiDjE, Latr. Ptilocera, Wied. quadridentata, Fabr. f'astuosa, Geist. Pachygaster, Meig. rufitarsis, Macq. Acanthina, Wied. aziirea, Geist. Fam. Tabanid^, Leach. Pangonia, Latr. Taprobanes, WUi. Fam. AsiLiD^, Leach. Trupanea, Macq. Ceylanica, Macq. Asilus, Linn. flavicornis, Macq. Barium, Wlk. 292 Fam. DoLicnoPiD^, Leach. Psilopus, Meig. *procuratus, Wlk. Fam. MusciD^, Latr. Tachina? Fahr. *tenebrosa, Wlk. Musca, Linn. doniestiia, Linn. Daciis. Fabr. *interclusus, Wlk. *nigrogeneus, Wlk. *cletentus, Wlk. Ortalis, Full. *conl"undens, Wlk. Sciomyza, Fall. *leucotclus, Wlk. Drosophila, Fall. *restituens, Wlk. Fam. Ntcteribtd^, Leach. Nycteribia, Lair. ? a species parasitic on Sea- tophi lus Coroman- delicus, Blicjh. Sec ante, p. 161. Order Kemiptera, Linn. Fam. PACHYCORiDiE, Dall. Cicnino, Amyot. Sf Serv. ocellatus, Thiinb. Callidea, Lap. superba, Dall. Stoclcerus, Linn. Fam. EURYGASTERID^, Dall. Trigonosoma, Lap. Desfontainii, Fabr. Fam. PLATASPiuiE, Dall. Coptosoma, Lap. laticeps, Dall. Fam. Haltdid^, Dall. Halys, Fabr. dentata, Fabr. - ZOOLOGY. Cat acanthus, Spin. incarnatus, Drury. Ehaphigaster, Lap. congrua, Wlk. Fam. EDESSiDyE, Dall. Aspongopus, Lap. Janus, Fabr. Tesseratoraa, Lep. < Serv. papillosa, Drury. Cyclopelta, Am. Sf Serv. siccif'olia, Hope. Fam Phtllocephalid^, Dall. Phyllocepliala, Lap. ^gyptiaca, Lefib. Fam. MiCTiDiE, Dall. Mictis, Leach. castanea, Dall. vaiida, Dall. punctum, Hope. Crinocerus, Burni. ponderosus, Wlk. Fam. Pentatomid^, Steph. Pentatoma, OUv. Timorensensis, Hope. Taprobanensis, Dall. Fam.ANisoscELiD^,-Da?/. Leptoscelis, Lap. ventralis. Dall. turpis, Wlk. marginalis, Wk. Serinetha, Spin. Taprobanensis, Dall. abdominalis, Fabr. I Fam. Alydidjs, Dall. Alydus, Fabr. linearis, Fabr. Fam. Stenocefhalid^, Dall. Leptocorisa, Latr. Cliinensis, Dall, Fam. CoREiDiE, Steph. Phopalus, Schill. interruptus, Wlk. Fam. Ltg^id^, Wesiiv. Lygjeus, Fabr. lutescens, Wlk. figuratus, Wlk. discifer, Wlk. Rhyparochromus, Curt. testaciepes, Wlk. [Pakt II. Fam. ARADiDiE, Wlk. Piestosoraa, Lap. picipes, Wlk. Fam. TiNGiD^, Wlk. Calloniana, Wlk. *elegans, Wlk. Fam. CiMiciP/E, Wlk. Ciraex, Liiin. lectularius, Linn.? ' Fam. EEUUViiDiE, Steph. Pirates, Burm. marginatus, Wlk. Acanlhaspis, Am. SfServ. sanguinipcs, Wlk. fulvispiua, Wlk. I Fam. Hydrometkid^, ' Leach. Ptilomera, Am. Sf Serv. laticauda, Hardw. Fam. Nepid^, Leach. Belostoma, Latr. Indicum, St. Farg. §• Serv. Nepa, Linn. minor, Wlk. Fam.NoTONECTiDJE,S. ch. x. p. 65.) The third, the Gamini tank, made hj the same king at the same place, Anarajapoora. —lb. ch. X. p. 66. CiiAP. Iir.] CONQUEST OF CEYLOX BY WIJAYO. 339 307. The continual recurrence of records of similar con- b.c. structions amongst the civil exploits of nearly every '^^^ succeeding sovereign, together with the prodigious number formed, alike attests the unimproved condition of Ceylon, prior to the arrival of the Bengal invaders, and the indolence or ignorance of the original inhabitants, as contrasted with the energy and skill of then- first conquerors. Upwards of two hundred years were spent in initiatory b.c. measures for the organisation of the new state. Colonists from the continent of India Avere encourao'ed by the facihties held out to settlers, and carriage roads were formed in the vicinity of the towns. ^ Village communities were duly organised, gardens were planted, flowers and fruit-bearing trees introduced'^, and the production of food secured by the construction of canals^, and pubhc works for irrigation. Moreover, the kings and petty princes attested the interest which they felt in the promotion of agriculture, by giving personal attention to the formation of tanks and to the labours of cultivation.* Meantime, the effects of Gotama's early visits had been obhterated, and the sacred trees which he planted were dead; and although the bulk of the settlers had come from countries where Buddhism was the dominant faith, no measures appear to have been taken by the im- migrants to revive or extend it throughout Ceylon. Wijayo was, in all probabihty, a Brahman, but so in- ^ 3fahawanso, ch. xiv. xy. xvi. 2 Mahawanso, ch. xi. p. (50 (3G7 B.C.), ch. xxxiv. p. 211 (B.C. 20), ch. XXXV. p. 215 (a.d. 20). Raja- ratnacari, ch. ii. p. 29. RaJavaU, p. 185, 227. ^ Mahmcanso, ch. xxxiv. p. 210 (B.C. 42), ch. XXXV. p. 221, 222 (a.d. 275), cli. xxxvii. p. 238. Rajn- ratnacari, ch. ii. p. 49, and Raiavali, p.223,&c. ^ ' * llahaicanso, ch. x. p. 01, xxii. p. 130, xxiv. p. 149. Rajai-ali, p. 185, 186. The Buddhist king's of Bunuah, at the present day, in imitation of the ancient sovereigns of Ceylon, rest their highest chiinis to reno'v\Ti on the nuniher of works for irrigation which they have either formed or repaired. See Yuh's Narrative of the British mission to Ava in 1855. p. lOG. z 2 340 THE SINGHALESE CHEONICLES. [Part III. B.C. oU7. different to his own faith, that his first alhance in Ceylon Avas witli a demon worsliipper.^ His immediate successors were so eager to encourage immigration, that they treated aU rehgions with a perfect equahty of royal favour. Yakkho temples were not only respected, but " annual demon offerings were provided " for them ; halls were built for the worshippers of Brahma, and residences were provided at the public cost, for " five hundred persons of various foreign rehgious faiths ;"'^ but no mention is made in the Mahawanso of a, single edifice having been then raised for the worsliippers of Buddha, whether resident in the island, or arriving amongst the colonists from India. It was not till the year B.C. 307, in the reign of Tissa, that the preacher Mahindo ventured to visit Ceylon, under the auspices of the king, whom he suc- ceeded in inducing to abstain from Brahmanical rites, and to profess faith in the doctrines of Buddha. From the prominent part thus taken by Tissa in estabhshing the national faith of Ceylon, the sacred writers honour his name with the prefix of Dewdnan-pia^ or " beloved of the saints." The Mahawanso exhausts the vocabulary of ecstacy in describing the advent of Mahindo, a prince of Magadha, and a lineal descendant of Chandragutto. It records the visions by which he was divinely directed to " depart on his mission for the conversion of Lanka;" it describes his aerial flight, and his descent on Ambatthalo, the loftiest peak of JVIihintala, the moun- tain which, rising suddenly from the plain, overlooks ■* According to tlie Mahawanso, Vishnu, in order to protect Wijajo and his followers from the sorceries of the Yakkhos, met them on their landing in Ceylon, and " tied threads on their arms" ch. vii. ; and at a later period, when the king Pauduwasa, 15.C. 504, was afflicted with temporary insanity, as a punishment in his person of the crime of perjmy, committed hy his predecessor Wijayo, Iswara was supplicated to interpose, and by his mediation the king was restored to his right mind. — Rqjavali, p. 181. ^ Mahawanso, ch. x. p. G7 ; ch, xxxiii. p. 203. Chap. ITT.] CONQUEST OF CEYLOX BY WIJAYO. 341 the sacred city of Anarajapoora. The story proceeds to explain, lio^v tlie king, who was hunting the elk, was miraculously allured by the lieeing game to approach the spot where Maliindo was seated ^ ; and how the latter forthwith propounded the Divine doctrine " to the ruler of the land ; who, at the conclusion of his discourse, together with his forty thousand followers, obtained the salvation of the faith." - Then follows the approach of Maliindo to the capital ; the conversion of the queen and her attendants, and the reception of Buddhism by the nation, under the preaching of its great Apostle, who " thus became the luminary which shed the hght of rehgion over the land." He and his sister Sanghamitta thenceforth de- voted their hves to the organisation of Buddliist com- munities throughout Ceylon, and died in the odour of sanctity, in the reign of King Uttiya, B.C. 267. But the grand achievement which consummated the establishment of the national faith, was the arrival from Magadha of a branch of the sacred Bo-tree. Every ancient race has had its sacred tree ; the Chaldeans, the Hebrews ^, the Greeks, the Eomans and the Druids, had each their groves, their elms and their oaks, under which to worship. Like them, the Brahmans have their Kalpa tree in Paradise, and the Banyan in the vicinity of their B.C. 307. B.C. 289. ^ The stoiy, as related in the Mahawmiso, bears a resemblance to the legend of St. Hubert and the stag-, in the forest of ^Vi-dennes, and to tliat of St. Eustace, who, when hunting, was led by a deer of singidar beauty towards a rock, where it dis- played to him the crucifix upon its forehead ; whence an appeal was ad- di'essed which effected his conversion. " The king Dewananpiyatissa de- parted for an elk hunt, taking with him a retinue ; and in the course of the pursuit of the game on foot, he came to the Missa mountain. A certain devo, assuming the form of an elk, stationed himself there, grazing ; the sovereign descried him, and say- ing ' it is not fair to shoot him stand- ing/ sounded his bowstring, on which the elk fled to the momitain. The king gave chase to the fljing animal, and, on reaching the spot where the priests were, the thero Mahindo came within sight cf the monarch ; but the metamorphosed deer vanished." — 3I(iIia7ranso, c. xiv. 2 3Iahawanso, ch. xiv. p. 80. ^ " They sacrifice upon the tops of mountains, and burn incense under oaks, and poplars, and elms,, because the shadow thereof is good." — Hoseci, iv. 1.3. z .3 342 THE SINGHALESE CHRONICLES. [Part III. B.C. 289. temples ; and the Buddliists, in conformity with imme- morial practice, selected as their sacred tree the PijDpid, which is closely alhed to the Banyan, yet sufficiently distinguished from it, to serve as the emblem of a new and peculiar worsliip,^ It was whilst reclining under the shade of this tree in Uruwela, that Gotama received Buddhahood ; hence its adoption as an object of reverence by his followers, and in all probabihty its adoration pre- ceded the use of images and temples in Ceylon.^ In order that his kingdom might possess a sacred tree of the supremest sanctity, king Tissa solicited a branch of the identical tree under which Gotama re- chned, from Asoca, who then reigned in Magadha. The difficulty of severing a portion without the sacrilegious offence of " lopping it with any weapon," was overcome by the mu-acle of the brancli detaching itself sponta- neously, and descending with its roots into the fragrant earth prepared for it in a golden vase, in which it was transported by sea to Ceylon^, and planted by king Tissa in the spot at Anarajapoora, where, after the ^ The Bo-tree (Ficus relu/iosa) is the " pippul " of India. It differs from the Banyan (F. indica), by sending down * no roots from its brandies. Its heart-shaped leaves, with long attenuated points, are at- tached to the stem by so slender a stalk, that. they appear in the pro- foundest calm to he ever in motion, and thus, like the leaves of tlie aspen, which, from the tradition that the cross was made of that wood, the Syrians believe to tremble in recol- lection of the events of the crucifixion, those of the Bo-tree are supposed by the Buddhists to exhibit a tremu- lous venerati(m, associated with the sacred scene of which they were the witnesses. 2 Previous Buddhas had each his Bo-tree or Buddha-tree. The pip- pul had been before assumed by the first recorded Buddha ; others had the iron-tree, the champac, the nipa, &c. — 3Iahaw(inso, TxtrnoxteJs Introd. p. xxxii. ^ The ceremonial of the mysterious severance of the sacred branch " amid the din of music, the clamours of men, the howling of the elements, the roar of animals, the screams of birds, the yells of demons, and the crash of earthquakes," is minutely described in an elaborate passage of the Maha- waiiso. And its landing in Ceylon, the retinue of its attendants, the ho- mage paid to it, its progi'ess to the capital, its arrival at the Northern- gate " at the hour when shadows are most extended," its reception by princes " adorned with the insignia of royalty," and its final deposition in the earth, under the auspices of Ma- hindo and his sister Sanghamitta, form one of the most striking epi- sodes in that very singular book. — Mahaivanso, ch. xviii. xix. C:iAP. HI.] CONQUEST OF CFA'LON BY WIJAYO. 34$ lapse of more than 2000 years, it still contiiiiios to n.c. flourish and to receive the profound veneration of all ^^^• Buddhist nations.^ >K«pir>iqj^m_ii^ lS» THE BO-TKJii; AT AN AHAJAPUOliA , ^ The planting of tlie Bo-tree took place in the eighteenth year of the reign of King Deveuipiatissa, B.C. 288 ; it is consequently at the present time 2147 years old. z 4 344 THE SINGHALESE CHEONICLES. [Part III. CHAP. ly. THE EARLY BUDDHIST MONUMENTS. B.C. 289. Almost simultaneously with the establishment of the Buddhist religion was commenced the erection of those stupendous ecclesiastical structures, the number and mag- nitude of whose remains form a remarkable characteristic in the present aspect of the country. The architectm^al history of continental India dates from the third centmy before Christ ; not a single build- ing or sculptured stone having as yet been discovered there, of an age anterior to the reign of Asoca \ who was the first of his dynasty to abandon the rehgion of Brahma for that of Buddha. In hke manner the earliest existing monuments of Ceylon belong to the same period ; they owe their construction to Devenipiatissa, and the historical annals of the island record with pious gratitude the series of dagobas, wiharas, and temples erected by him and his successors. Of these the most remarkable are the Dagobas, piles of brickwork of dimensions so extraordinary that they suggest comparison with the pyramids of Memphis ^, the barrow of Halyattys ^, or the mounds in the valleys of the Tigris and Euphrates. ^ Feegtjsok, Handbook of Archi- tecture, b. i. c. i. p. 5. ^ So vast did the dag'obas appear to the Singhalese that the author of the 3Iahawanso, iu describino- the construction of that called the liimn- tvelle at Anarajapoora, states that each of the lower courses contained ten kotis (a Icoti being equal to 100 lacs) or 10,000,000 bricks. — J/oAa- wanso, ch. xxx. p. 179. ^ " The ancient edifices of Chi-Chen in Central America bear a striking resemblmce to the topes of India. The shape of one of the domes, its apparent size, the smaU tower on the summit, the trees gi-owing on the sides, the appearance of masonry here and there, the shape of the ornaments, and the small doorway at the base, are so exactly similar to what I had seen at Anarajapoora that when my eyes first fell on the engravings of these remarkable ruins I supposed that they were presented in illustration of the dagobas of Cey- lon." — Hardy's Eastern 3Io)iachism, c. xix. p. 222. CuAP. IV.] THE EARLY BUDDHIST MONUMENTS. 345 A dagoba (from datu^ a relic, and gabbhan, a shrine^) b.c. is a monument raised to preserve one of the relics of 289. Gotama, which were collected after the cremation of his body at Kusinara, and it is candidly admitted in the Mahawanso that the intention in erecting them was to provide " objects to wliich offerings could be made." ^ Ceylon contains but one class of these structures, and boasts no tall monolitliic pillars hke the lats of Dellii and Allahabad, and no regidarly built columns similar to the miliars of Cabul ; but the fragments of the bones of Gotama, and locks of his hair, are enclosed in enormous masses of hemispherical masonry, modifica- tions of which may be traced in every Buddhist country of Asia, in the topes of AfTghanistan and the Punjaub, in the pagodas of Pegu, and in tlie Boro-Buddor of Java. Those of Ceylon consist of a bell-shaped dome of brick-work surmounted by a terminal or tee (generally in the form of a cube supporting a pointed spire), and resting on a square platform approached by flights of stone steps. Those, the ruins of Avliich liave been explored in modern times, have been found to be almost sohd, en- 1 Delia, "the body," and r/opa, '"■' wliat preserves ; " because they en- shrine hair, teeth, nails, &c. of Buddha. — Wilson's Asiat. p. (iOo. Res. vol. xvii. ^ Mahmvmiso, ch. xvii. p. 104. 34G THE SINGHALESE CHEONICLES. [Part IIT. B.C. 289.; closing a hollow vessel of metal or stone wliicli had once contained the rehc, but of which the ornament alone and a few gems or discoloured pearls set in gold, are usually all that is now discoverable. Their outhne exliibits but httle of ingenuity or of art, and their construction is only remarkable for the vast amount of labour wliicli must necessarily have been expended upon them. But, independently of this, the first dagoba erected at Anarajapoora, the Thupa- ramaya, which exists to the present day, " as nearly as may be in the same form in which it was originally designed, is possessed of a pecuhar interest from the fact that it is in all probability the oldest architectural monument now extant in India." ^ It was raised by King Tissa, at the close of the third century before Christ, over the collar-bone of Buddha, wliich Mahindo had procured for the king.^ In dimensions this monu- ment is inferior to those built at a later period by the successors of Tissa, some of wliicli are scarcely exceeded in diameter and altitude by the dome of St. Peter's^ ; but in elegance of outhne it immeasurably surpassed all the other dagobas, and the beauty of its design is stiU percep- tible ill its ruins after the lapse of two thousand years. The Idng, in addition to this, built a number of others in various parts of Ceylon^, and his name has been per- petuated as the founder of temples, for the rites of the new rehgion, and of Wiharas or monasteries for the resi- dence of its priesthood. The former were of the simplest design, for an atheistical system, wliich substitutes medi- tation for worship, dispenses with splendour in its edifices and pomp in its ceremonial. ^ Ferguson's Handbook of Archi- tecture, b. i. c. iii. p. 43. "^ 3Iahmvanso, ch. xvii. TlieiSrya- vali calls it the jaw-bone, p. 184. 3 The Abkayagiri dagoba at Anara- japoora, built B.C. 89, was originally 180 cubits high, which, takmg the Ceylon cubit at 2 feet 3 inches, would be equal to 405 feet. The dome was hemispherical, and describ- ed with a radius of 180 feet, giving a circumference of 1130 feet. The summit of this stupendous work was therefore fifty feet higher than St. raid's, and fifty feet lower than St. Peter's. * Tfrnofe's Epitome, p. 15. CiiAP. IV.] THE EARLY BUDDHIST MOXOIENTS. 347 The images of Gotama, wliicli in time became objects ]i,c. of veneration, were but a late innovation \ and a doubt 289. has even been expressed whether the rehgion of Buddha in its primitive constitution, rejecting as it does tlie doc- trine of a mediatorial priesthood, contemplated the exis- tence of any organised ministry. Caves, or insulated apartments in imitation of their gloom and retirement, were in all probabihty the first resort of devotees in Ceylon, and hence amongst the deeds of King Tissa, the most conspicuous and munifi- cent were the construction of rock temples, on IVIihintala, and of apartments for the priests in all parts of his dominions.^ The directions of Gotama as to the residence of his votaries are characterised by the severest simphcity, and the term " pansala," hterally " a dwelhng of leaves,"^ by which the house of a priest is described to the present day, serves to illustrate the Qiiginal intention that persons dedicated to his ser\'ice should cultivate sohtude and meditation by withdi-awing into the forest, but within such a convenient distance as would not estrange them from the villagers, on whose bounty and alms they were to be dependent for subsistence. In one of the rock inscriptions deciphered by Prinsep, King Asoca, in addressing himself to his Buddhist subjects, distinguishes them as " ascetics and house- holdersy In the sacred books a laic is called a " graha pah," meaning " the ruler of a house ; " and in contra- distinction Fa Ilian, the Cliinese Buddhist, speaks of the priests of Ceylon under the designation of " the house- ^ The precise date of their intro- > were Buddhists or Brahmans; but duction is ^mkno^\^l, but the first i the account which he gives of the mention of a statue occurs in an in- class of them whom he styles the scription on the rock at Mihintala, i Ilvlobii, would seem to identify them bearing date a.d. 246, and referring I with the Sramanas of Buddhism, to the house constructed over a "passing their lives in the woods, figure of Buddha. fwrrec iv rai^ vXatQ, living on fruits 2 TTJKJfOTTR's Upitome, p. 15. and seeds, and clothed with the bark ^ It is questionable whether the of trees." — Megasthenes' Indica, Sarmanai, mentioned by Megasthenes, &e., Frag-ra. xlii. 348 THE SINGHALESE CHRONICLES. [Part lit. B.C. 289. less," to mark tlieii' abandonment of social enjoyments.^ Anticij^ating the probable necessity of their eventually resorting to houses for accommodation, Buddha du^ected that, if built for an individual, the internal measurement of a cell should be twelve spans in length by seven in breadth'^; and, if restricted to such dimensions, the asser- tions of the Singhalese chronicles become intelhgible as to the prodigious number of such dwellings said to have been raised by the early kings. ^ But the multitudes who were thus attracted to a hfe of indolent devotion became in a short time so excessive that recourse was had to other devices for combining economy with accommodation, and groups of such cells were gradually formed into wiharas and monasteries, the inmates of which have uniformly preserved their organisation and order. Still the edifices thus con- structed have never exhibited any tendency to depart from the primitive simplicity so strongly enjoined by their founder ; and, down to the present time, the homes of the Buddhist priesthood are modest and humble struc- tures generally reared of mud and thatch, with no pre- tension to external beauty and no attempt at internal decoration. To supply to the ascetics the means of seclusion and exercise, the early kings commenced the erection of ambulance-halls ; and gardens were set apart for the use of the great temple communities. The Mahaivanso describes, with all the pomp of Oriental diction, the ceremony observed by King Tissa on the occasion of setting apart a portion of ground as a site for the first wihara at his capital ; the monarch in person, attended by standard bearers and guards with golden staves, having come to mark out the boundary with ^ " Les hommes hors de leur mai- sons." — Fa Hian, Foe Koue Ki, ch. xxxix. Tins is the equivalent of the Singhalese term for the same class, cu/arii/an-piihhajifo, used in the Pittakas. 2 Hardy's Uastern Monachism, ch. xiii. p. 122. ^ The Rajaratnacari says that Devenipiatissa caused eighty-four thousand temples to be built during his reig-n, p. 35. CiiAP. IV.] THE EARLY BUDDHIST MONUMENTS. 349 a plough drawn by elephants.* A second monastery b.c. was erected by him on the summit of Miliintala ^ ; a ^^^' third was attached to tlie dagoba of the Thuparamaya, and others were rapidly founded in every quarter of the island.^ It was in all probabihty owing to the growth of these institutions, and the establishment of colleges in con- nection with them, that halls were eventually appro- priated for the reception of statues ; and that apartments so consecrated were devoted to the ceremonies and worship of Buddha. Hence, at a very early period, the dwelhngs of the priests were identified with the chaityas and sacred edifices, and the name of the Wihara came to designate indiiferently both the temple and the monastery. But the hall which contains the figures of Buddha, and which constitutes the " temple " proper, is always detached from the domestic buildings, and is frequently placed on an eminence from which the view is com- manding. The interior is painted in the style of EgyjDtian chambers, and is filled with figures and illustrations of the legends of Gotama, whose statue, with hand uphfted in the attitude of admonition, or reclining in repose emblematic of the bhssfid state of Nu-wana, is placed in the dimmest recess of the edifice. Here lamps cast a feeble hght, and the air is heavy with the perfume of flowers, which are daily renewed by fresh offerings from the worshippers at the shrines. In no other system of idolatry, ancient or modern, have the rites been administered by such a multitude of priests as assist in the passionless ceremonial of ^ Mahmcanso, cb. xv. p. 99. "^ Malidicanso, ch. xx. p. 123. ^ Five hundred were built by one king alone, the tliird in succession from Devenipiatissa, B.C. 246 (Ma- hmvamo, cli. xxi. p. 127). About the same period the petty chiefs of , Rohuna and Mahagam were equally zealous in their devout labours, tlie one having erected sixtv-fom* wi- baras in the east of the island, and the other sixty-eight in the south. — 3Iahawanso, ch. xxiv. p. 145; 148. 350 THE SINGHALESE CHRONICLES. [rART III. B.C. 289.. Buddhism. Fa Ilian, in tlie fourth century, was assured by tlie people of Ceylon that at that period the priests numbered between fifty and sixty thousand, of whom two thousand were attached to one wihara at Anarajapoora, and three thousand to another.^ As the vow which devotes the priests of Buddha to religion binds them at the same time to a hfe of poverty and mendicancy, the extension of the faith entailed in great part on the crown' the duty of supporting the vast crowds who withdrew themselves from industry to em- brace devotion and indigence. They were provided with food by the royal bounty, and hence the historical books make perpetual reference to the priests " going to the king's house to eat," ^ when the monarch himself set the example to his subjects of " serving them Avith rice broth, cakes, and dressed rice." ^ Pdce in all its varieties is the diet described in the Mahaurmso as being pro- vided for the priesthood by the munificence of the kings ; " rice prepared with sugar and honey, rice with clarified butter, and rice in its ordinary form."^ In addition to the enjoyment of a hfe of idleness, another powerful incentive conspired to swell the numbers of these devotees. The followers and successors of Wijayo 1 Fa Hia^t, Foe Kmte Kt, ch, xxxviii. p. 330, 350. At tlie present day the number in the whole island does not probably exceed 2500 (Haedy's Eadern 3TonacJmm, p. 57, 309). But this is far below the pro- portion of the Buddhist priesthood in other countries ; in Siam nearly every adult male becomes a priest for a certain portion of his life; a similar practice prevails in Ava ; and in Burmah so common is it to assume the yellow robe, that the popiUar expedient for effecting divorce is for the parties to make a profession of the priesthood, the ceremonial of which is sufficient to dissolve the marriage vow, and after an interval of a few months, they can throw off the yellow robe and are then at liberty to marry again. ^ iiaj(tvah\-p. ISd. HiouenThsang, the Chinese pilgTim, describing Ana- rajapoora in the seventh century, says : " A cote du palais du roi, ou a construit uiie vaste cuisine oil Ton prepare chaque jour des aliments pour dix-huit mille religieiLX. A I'heure de repas, les religieiix vien- nent, un pot a la main, pour recevoir leur nourriture. Apres I'avoir ob- tenue ils s'en retournent chacun dans leur chambre."— HiouEN TiiSANr^^, Transl. M. JtrLiEJi", lib. xi. torn. ii. p. 143. ^ 3Lthnwanso, ch. xiv. p. 82. * 3IahmD(mso, ch. xxxii. ; Rqja- ratnacari, ch. i. p. 37, ch. ii. p. 56, (50, 62. Chap. TV.] THE EARLY BUDDHIST MONUMENTS. 351 preserved intact the institution of caste, which they liad brought mth them from the valley of the Ganges ; and, although caste was not abolished by the teachers of Bud- dhism, "svho retained and respected it as a social institution, it was practically annulled and absorbed in the religious character ; — all who embraced the ascetic life being si- multaneously absolved from all conventional disabilities, and received as members of the sacred community with all its exalted prerogatives.^ Along w^ith food, clothing consisting of three garments to complete the sacerdotal robes, as enjoined by the Buddhist ritual^, was distributed at certain seasons ; and in later times a practice obtained of providing robes for the priests by " causing the cotton to be picked from the tree at sunrise, cleaned, spun, Avoven, dyed ycUow, and made into garments and presented before sunset."^ The condition of the priesthood was thus reduced to a state of absolute dependency on alms, and at the earhest period of their history the vow of poverty, by which their order is bound, would seem to have been righteously observed. B.C. 289, 1 Professor WiLSo:^, Jouni. Roij. Asiat. Soc. vol. xvi. p. 249. - To avoid the A'anity of dress or tlie temptation to acquire property, no Buddhist priest is allowed to have more than one set of robes, consist- ing of three pieces, and if an extra one be bestowed on him it must be surrendered to the chapter of his wihara within ten days. The dimen- sions must not exceed a specified length, and when obtained new the cloth must be disfigured with mud or otherwise before he puts it on. A magnificent robe having been given to Cxotama, his attendant Ananda, in order to destroy its intrinsic value, cut it into thirty pieces and sewed them together in four divisions, so that the robe resembled the patches of a rice-field divided by embank- ments. And in conformity with this precedent the robes of every- priest are similarly dissected and reunited. — IIardy's Eastern Monaclmm, c. xii. p. 117 ] Rajaratnacari, ch. ii. pp. 60, 66. 2 Rajaratnacan, pp. 104, 100, 112. The custom which is still observed in Ceylon, of weaving robes between simi-ise and sunset is called Catinn dhwana (Rq/avali, p. 261). The work is performed chiefly by women, and the practice is identical with that mentioned by Herodotus, as observed by the priests of Eg^'pt, who cele- brated a festival in honour of the return of Khanipsinitus, after pla^-ing at dice with Ceres in Hades, by in- vesting one of their body with a cloak made in a single day, (jutpog avT7)nefj6v llvih\vavTic, Euterpe, cxxii. Gray, in his ode of Tlie Fatal Sisters, Jias em])odied the Scandinavian mj-tli in which the twelve weird sisters, the VaUdriur, weave "the crimson web of war " between the rising and set- tinji: of the sun. 352 THE SINGHALESE CHRONICLES. [Part III. CHAP. V. SINGHALESE CHIVALEY. — ELALA AND DUTUGAIMUNU. B.C. For nearly a century after the accession of Devenipia- tissa, the rehgion and the social development of Ceylon thus exliibited an equally steady advancement. The B.C. cousins of the king, three of whom ascended the throne in succession, seem to have vied with each other in works of piety and utihty. Wiliaras were built in all parts of the island, both north and south of the Malia- welh-ganga. Dagobas were raised in various places, and cultivation was urged forward by the formation of tanks and canals. But, during this period, from the fact of the Bengal immigrants being employed in more congenial or more profitable occupations (pos- sibly also from the numbers who were annually devoting themselves to the service of the temples), and from the ascertained inaptitude of the native Singhalese to bear arms, a practice was commenced of retaining foreign mercenaries, which, even at that early period, was productive of animosity and bloodshed, and in process of time led to the overthrow of the Wijayan dynasty and the gradual decay of the Sinhala sovereignty. The genius of the Gangetic race, which had taken possession of Ceylon, was essentially adapted to agri- cultural pursuits — in which, to the present day, then- superiority is apparent over the less energetic tribes of the Dekkan. Busied with such employments, the early colonists had no leisure for military service ; besides, whilst Devenipiatissa and his successors were earnestly engaged in the formation of rehgious com- munities, and the erection of sacred edifices in the Chap. V. ELALA. 353 noitlieru poi'tion of the island, various princes of the b.c. same fiimily occupied themselves in forming settlements ^^^• in the south and west ; and hence, whilst their people were zealously devoted to the service and furtherance of religion, the sovereign at Anarajapoora was compelled, through a combination of causes, to take into his pay a body of Malabars^ for the protection both of the coast and the interior. Of the foreigners thus confided in, " two youths, powerful in their cavalry and navy, named Sena and Gottika," ^ proved unfoithful to their trust, and after causing the death of the king Suratissa (b.c. 237), cc. retained the supreme power for upwards of twenty years, '• till overthrown in their turn and put to death by the adherents of the legitimate line.^ Ten years, however, had barely elapsed when the attempt to establish a Tamil sovereign was renewed by Elala, " a Malabar of the illustrious Uju tribe, who invaded the island from the h.c. Chola^ coimtry, killed the reigning king Asela, and ruled '^*^^- the kingdom for forty years, administering justice im- partially to friends and foes." Such is the encomium which the Mahaivanso passes b.c. on an infidel usurper, because Elala offered his protection •^^^" to the priesthood ; but the orthodox annalist closes his notice of his reign by the moral reflection that " even he who was an heretic, and doomed by his creed to perdi- tion, obtained an exalted extent of supernatural power from having eschewed impiety and injustice." ^ ' The term "Malabar" is used tlirog-uliout the following pages in the comprehensive sense in which it is applied in the Singhalese chronicles to the continental invaders of Ceylon ; but it must be observed that the ad- venturers in these expeditions, who are styled in the 3I(ihaw(tnso, " dami- los " or Tamils, came not only from the sputh-westeni tract of the Dek- kan, known in modern geography as " Malabar," but also from all parts of the peninsula, as far north as Cuttack and Orissa. ^ Mahaivmiso, ch. xxi. p. 127. 3 Muhuwanso, xxi. ; Rajaratnacari, ch. ii. "^ Chola, or Solee, was the ancient name of Tanjore, and the country traversed by the river Caveri. ^ 3Iahmvanso, xxi. p. 129. The other historical books, the Rajavali, and Rajaratnacari, give a totally different character of Elala, and re- present him as the desecrator of mo- numents and the overthrower of temples. The traditional estimation which has followed his memory is the best attestation of the superior accuracy of the 3Iahawauso. VOL. I. A A 354 THE SINGHALESE CHRONICLES. [rAUT III. B.c But it was not the priests alone who were captivated ^^'l- by the generosity of Elala. In tlie final struggle for the throne, in which the Malabars were worsted by the gallantry of Dutugaimunu, a prince of the excluded family, the deeds of bravery displayed by him were the admiration of his enemies. The contest between the rival chiefs is the sohtary tale of Ceylon chivalry, in which Elala is the Saladin and Dutugaimunu the Coeur-de-hon. So genuine was the admiration of Elala's bravery that his rival erected a monument in his honour, on the spot where he fell ; its ruins remain to the present day, and the Singhalese still regard it with respect and veneration. "On reaching the quarter of the city in which it stands," says the 3Iahaivanso\ "it has been the custom for the monarchs of Lanka to silence their music, whatsoever cession they may be heading ; " and so uniformly was the homage continued down to the most recent period, that so lately as 1818, on the suppression of an attempted rebeUion, when the de- feated aspirant to the throne was making his escape by Anarajapoora, he alighted from his litter, on approach- ino- the quarter in which the monument was known to exist, " and although weary and almost incapable of exertion, not knowing the precise spot, he continued on foot till assured that he had passed far beyond the ancient memorial." ^ Dutugaimunu, in the epics of Buddhism, enjoys a renown, second only to that of King Tissa, as the champion of the faith. On the recovery of his kingdom he adckessed himself with energy to remove the effects produced in the northern portions of the island by forty years of neglect and inaction under the sway of Elala. During that monarch's protracted usurpation the minor sovereignties, which had been formed in various parts of the island prior to his seizures of the crown, were 1 Mahawanso, ch. xxi. ^ Forbes' Eleven Years in Ceylon, vol. i. p. 233, Chap. V.] ELALA AND DUTUGAIMUNU. 355 little impeded in their social progress by the forty- b.c. four years' residence of the Malabars at Anarajapoora. ^*^^- Altlioiigh the petty kings of Eoliuna and Maya sub- mitted to pay tribute to Elala, his personal rule did not extend south of the Maliawelli-ganga ^ and "whilst the strangers in the north of the island were plundering the temples of Buddha, the feudal chiefs in the south and west were emulating: the munificence of Tissa in the number of wiharas which they constructed. Eager to conciliate his subjects by a similar display of regard for religion, Dutugaimunu signalised his victory and restoration by commencing the erection of the Euan- welle dagoba, the most stupendous as well as the most venerated of those at Anarajapoora, as it enclosed a more imposing assemblage of relics than were ever enshrined in any other in Ceylon. The mass of the population was liable to render compulsory labour to the crown ; but wisely reflecting that it was not only derogatory to the sacredness of the object, but impolitic to exact any avoidable sacrifices from a people so recently suffering from internal warfare, Dutugaimunu came to the resolution of employing hired workmen only, and according to the Mahawanm vast numbers of the Yakkhos became converts to Buddhisn^ during the progress of the building ^, which the king did not hve to complete. But the most remarkable of the edifices which ho erected at the capital was the Malia-Lowa-paya, a mon- astery which obtained the name of the Brazen Palace from the fact of its being roofed with plates of that metal It was elevated on sixteen hundred monohthic colun^ns of ' MnJuncanso, eh. xxii., JRaJavali, p. 188, Rnjaratnacart, p. 30. The Maluiivanso lias a story of Diituoai- niunii, when a boy, ilhistrative of his early impatience to rid the island of the Malabars. Tlis father seeing- him lying on his bed, with his hands and feet gathered np, inquired, " My boy, why not stretch thyself at length on thy bed ? " " Confined by the Da- inilos," he replied, ''beyond the river on the one side, and by the unyield- ing ocean on the other, how can I lie with outstretched limbs ? " ' Mahmoartso, ch. xxviii. xxix. xxx, xxxi. 2 35G THE SINGHALESE CHRONICLES. [Part III. B.C. granite twelve feet high, and arranged in hnes of forty, so 1^1- as to cover an area of upwards of two hundred and twenty- feet square. On these rested the building nine stories in heiiiht, which, in addition to a thousand dormitories for priests, contained halls and other apartments for their ex- ercise and accommodation. The Mahawanso relates with peculiar unction the munificence of Dutugaimunu in remunerating those em- ployed upon this edifice ; he deposited clothing for that purpose as well as " vessels filled with sugar, buffalo butter and honey ; " he announced that on this occasion it was not fitting to exact unpaid labour, and, " placing high value on the work to be performed, he paid the workmen with money." ^ The structure, when completed, far exceeded in splen- dour anything recorded in the sacred books. All its apartments were embelhshed with " beads, resplendent hke gems ; " the great hall was supported by golden pillars resting on lions and other animals, and the walls were ornamented with festoons of pearls and of flowers formed of jewels ; in the centre was an ivory throne, with an emblem on one side of a golden sun, and on the other of the moon in silver, and above all ghttered the imperial " cliatta," the white canopy of dominion. The palace, says the 3Iahawa7iso, was provided with rich carpets and couches, and " even the ladle of the rice boiler was of gold." The vicissitudes and transformations of the Brazen Palace are subjects of frequent mention in the his- tory of the sacred city. As originally planned by Dutugaimunu, it did not endure through the reign of his successor Saidaitissa, at whose expense it was re- constructed, B.C. 140, but the number of stories was lowered to seven.'"^ More than two centuries later, a.d. 182, these were again reduced to five^, and the entire 1 Mahawanso, ch. xxvii. p. 1G3. I ^ Malunmnso, ch. xxxiii. ■^ Malmwanso, ch, xxxvi. | Chap. V.] DUTUGAIMUNU. 357 biiikling must have been taken down in a.d. 240, as tlie king who was then reigning caused " the pillars of the Lowa Pasado to be arranged in a different form." The edifice erected on its site was pulled to the ground by the apostate Maha Sen, a.d. 301^; but penitently reconstructed by him on liis recantation of his errors. Its last recorded restoration took place in the reign of Prakrama-bahu, towards the close of the twelfth century, when " the king rebuilt the Lowa-Maha-paya, and raised up the 1600 pillars of rock." TJius exposed to spohation by its splendour, and obnoxious to infidel invaders from the rehgious uses to which it was dedicated, it was subjected to violence on every commotion, whether civil or external, which dis- tm^bed the repose of tlie capital ; and at the present day, no traces of it remain except the indestructible monoliths on which it stood. A " world of stone B.C. 161. RUINS OF THE BRAZEN PALACE. columns," to use the cpiaint expression of Knox, still marks the site of the Brazen Palace of Dutugaimunu, Mahawanso, cli. xxxvii. A ,\ 3 137. 358 THE SINGHALESE CHRONICLES. [Part III. B.C. and attests tlie accuracy of the clironicles which describe ^*^*- its former magnificence. Tlie character of Dutugaimimu is succinctly ex- pressed in his dying avowal, that he had lived " a slave to the priesthood."^ Before partaking of food, it was his practice to present a portion for their use ; and recollecting in maturer age, that on one occasion, when a child, he had so far forgotten this invariable rule, as to eat a chilly without sharing it with the priest, he submitted himself to a penance in expiation of this youthful impiety.^ His death scene, as described in the Mahawanso, contains an enumeration of the deeds B c. of piety by which his reign had been signahsed.^ Ex- tended on his couch in front of the great dagoba which he had erected, he thus addressed one of his mihtary companions who had embraced the priesthood: "In times past, supported by my ten warriors, I engaged in battles ; now, single-handed, I commence my last con- flict, with death ; and it is not permitted to me to over- come my antagonist." " Euler of men," replied the thero, " without subduing the dominion of sin, the power of death is invhicible ; but call to recollection thy acts of piety performed, and from these you will derive con- solation." The secretary then " read from the register of deeds of piety," that " one hundred wiharas, less one, had been constructed by the Maharaja, that he had built two great dagobas and the Brazen Palace at Anarajapoora ; that in famines he had given his jewels to support the pious ; that on three several occasions he had clothed the whole priesthood throughout the island, giving three garments to each ; that five times he had conferred the sovereignty of the land for the space of seven days on the National Church ; that he had founded hospitals for the infirm, and distributed rice to the indigent; bestowed lamps on innumerable temples, • Malmwanso, ch. xxxii. I ^ MaJimcanso, ch. xxxii. ^ 3Iahmcanso, ch. xxiv. xxv. | Chap. Y.] DUTUGAIMUNU. 359 and maintained preachers, in tlie varions wiharas, in all b.c^ parts of his dominions. ' All these acts,' said the dying l^^- king, ' done in my days of prosperity, afford no comfort to my mind ; but two offerings which I made when in affliction and in adversity, disregardhd of my own fate, are those which alone administer solace to me now.' ^ After this, the pre-eminently -svise Maharaja expired, stretched on his bed, in the act of gazing on the Mahatupo." ^ ^ Mahmvanso, cli. xxxii, ^ Another name for the Riianwellt5 dagoba, which he had built. A A 4 360 THE SINGHALESE CHRONICLES. [Part III. I CHAP. VI. THE INFLUENCE OF BUDDHISM ON CIVILISATION. B.C. 137. After the reign of Dutugaimiinu there is little in the pages of the native historians to sustain interest in the story of the Singhalese monarchs. The long hne of sovereigns is divided into two distinct classes ; the kings of the Maha-wanse or " superior dynasty " of the uncon- tamhiated blood of Wijayo, who occupied the throne from his death, B.C. 505, to that of Maha Sen, a.d. 302 ; — and the Sitlu-ivanse or " inferior race," whose descent was less pure, but who, amidst invasions, revolutions, and decline, continued, with unsteady hand, to hold the government down to the occupation of the island by Europeans in the beginning of the sixteenth century. To the great dynasty, and more especially to its earhest members, the inhabitants were indebted for the first rudiments of civihsation, for the arts of agricultural hfe, for an organised government, and for a system of national worship. But neither the piety of the kings nor their munificence sufiiced to concihate the personal attachment of their subjects, or to strengthen their throne by national attachment such as would have fortified its occupant against the fatahties incident to despotism. Of fifty-one sovereigns who formed the pure Wijayan dynasty, two were deposed by their subjects, and nine- teen put to death by their successors.^ Excepting the 1 There is sometliing very striking in the facility with which aspirants to the throne obtained the instant ac- quiescence of the people, so soon as assassination had put them in pos- session of power. And this is the more remarkable, where the usui-pers were of the lower grade, as in the instance of Subho, a gate porter, who murdered King Yasa Silo, a.d. GO, Chap. VI.] INFLUENCE OF BUDDHISM ON CIVILISATION. 361 rare instances in which a reign was marked by some u.c. occurrence, such as an invasion and repulse of the 137. Malabars, there is hardly a sovereign of the " Solar race " whose name is associated with a higher achieve- ment than the erection of a dagoba or the formation of a tank, nor one whose story is enlivened by an event more exciting tlian the murder through wliich he moimted the throne or the conspiracy by wliich he was driven from it.' One source of royal contention arose on the death of Dutugaimunu ; his son, having forfeited his birthright by an aUiance with a wife of lower caste, was set aside from the succession ; Saidaitissa, a brother of the de- ceased king, being raised to the throne in liis stead. The priests, on the death of Saidaitissa, B.C. 119, has- tened to proclaim his youngest son ThuUatthanako ^, to the prejudice of his elder brother Laimimtissa, but the latter established his just claim by the sword, and hence and reigned for six years (3Iahaw. cli. XXXV. p. 218). A carpenter, and a can-ier of fire-wood, were each ac- cepted in succession as sovereigns, A.D. 47; whilst the " grcctt th/nasti/" was still in the plenitude of its po- pidarity. The mystery is perhaps referable to the dominant necessity of securing tranquillity' at any cost, in the state of society where the means of cultivation were directly dependent on the village organisation, and famine and desolation would have been the instant and inevitable con- sequences of any commotions which interfered with the conservancy and repair of the tanks and means of ir- rigation, and the prompt application of labour to the raising and saving of produce at the instant when the fall of the rains or the ripening of the crops demanded its employment with the utmost vigour. 1 In theoiy the Singhalese monar- chy was elective in the descendants of the Solar race : in practice, primo- genitm-e had a preference, and the crown was either hereditary or be- came the prize of those who claimed to be of royal lineage. On reviewing the succession of kings fi-om B.C. 307 to A.D. 1815, tM)iy-nine eldest sons (or nearly one fourth), succeeded to their fa-thers : and twenty-nine kings (or more than one fifth), were suc- ceeded by brothers. Fifteen reigned for a period less than one year, and thirty for more than one year, and less than four. Of the Smghalese kings who died by violence, twenty-two were murdered by their successors ; six were killed by other individuals ; thirteen fell in feuds and war, and four committed suicide ; eleven were dethroned, and their subsequent fate is unknown. Not more than two- thirds of the Singhalese kings re- tained sovereign authority to their decease, or reached the funeral pile without a violent death. — Fokbes' Eleven Years in Ceylon, vol. i. ch. iv. p. 80, 97 ; JoiNViLLE, Rcliyion and 3Ianne)-s of the People of Ceylon : AMat. lies. vol. vii. p. 423. See also 3Ia- haivanso, ch. xxiii. p. 201. ^ Mahaivanso, ch. xxxiii. p. 201. 362 THE SINGHALESE CHEONICLES. [Part III. B.C. 119. arose two rival lines, which for centuries afterwards were prompt on every opportunity to advance adverse pretensions to the throne, and assert them by force of arms. In such contests the priesthood brought a preponde- rant influence to whatever side they inclined ' ; and thus the royal authority, though not strictly sacerdotal, be- came so closely identified with the hierarchy, and so guided by its will, that each sovereign's attention was chiefly devoted to forwarding such measures as most con- duced to the exaltation of Buddhism and the maintenance of its monasteries and temples. A signal effect of this regal policy, and of the growing diffusion of Buddhism, is to be traced in the impulse which it communicated to the reclamation of lands and the extension of cultivation. For more than three hundred years no mention is made in the Singhalese annals of any mode of maintaining the priesthood other than the royal distribution of clothing and voluntary offerings of food. They resorted for the " royal alms " either to the residence of the authorities or to halls specially built for their accommodation ^, to which they were summoned by " the shout of refection ; " ^ the ordi- nary priests receiving rice, " those endowed with the gift of preaching, clarified butter, sugar, and honey." ^ Hospitals and medicines for their use, and rest houses on their journeys, were also provided at the pubhc charge.^ These expedients were available so long as the num- bers of the priesthood were Hmited ; but such were the I ' It was the dyinor boast of Diitu- gaimunu that he had lived " a sLive to the priesthood." The expression was figurative in his case; but so abject did the subserviency of the kings become, and so rapid was its gi'owth, that Bhatiya Tissa, who reigned a.d. 8, rendered it literal, and " dedicated himself, his queen, and two sons, as well as his charger, and state ele- phant, as slaves to the 2^t'iesthood.'^ The Mahmvanso intimates that the priests themselves protested against this debasement, ch. xxxiv. p. 214. '^ Mahawanso, ch. xx. p. 12.3 ; xxii. p. 132, 135, 3 3Iahawanso, ch. xxviii. p. 167. * 3Iahawa7iso, ch. xxxii. p. 196-7. 5 Mahawanso, ch. xxxii. p. 196 xxxvii. p. 244 ; Rajaratnacari, p. 39^ 41. Chap. VI.] INFLUENCE OF BUDDHISM ON CIVILISATION. 363 multitudes wlio were tempted to withdraw from the world and its pursuits, in order to devote themselves to meditation and the diffusion of Buddhism, that the difficidty became practical of maintaining them by per- sonal gifts, and the alternative suggested itself of setting apart lands for their support. This innovation was first resorted to during an interregnum. The Sin- ghalese king Walagam Bahu, being expelled from his capital by a Malabar usurpation B.C. 104, was unable to continue the accustomed regal bounty to the priesthood ; and dedicated certain lands while in exile in Eohuna, for the support of a fraternity " who had sheltered him there." ^ The precedent thus established, was speedily seized upon and extended ; lands were everywhere set apart for the repair of the sacred edifices^, and eventually, about the beginning of the Christian era, the priesthood acquired such an increase of influence as sufficed to convert their precarious eleemosynary dependency into a permanent territorial endowment ; and the practice became universal of conveying estates in mortmain on the construction of a wihara or the dedication of a temple.^ The corporate character of the recipients served to neutralise the obhgations by which they were severally bound ; the vow of poverty, though compulsory on an individual priest, ceased to be binding on the commu- nity of which he was a member ; and whilst, on his own behalf, he was constrained to abjure the possession of property, even to the extent of one superfluous cloth, the wihara to which he was attached, in addition to its ecclesiastical buildings, and its offerings in gems and gold, was held competent to become the proprietor of broad and fertile lands.^ These were so bountifully B.C. 119. B.C. lOi. * Mahawanso, ch. xxxiii. p. 20.3. Previous to this date a kiug of Eo- huna, during the usurpation of Elala, B.C. 205, had appropriated lands near Kalany, for the repairs of the dagolia. — Rajaratnacai-i, p. 37. 2 In the reign of Batiya Tissa, B.C. 20. 3Iahawanso, ch. xxxiv. p. 212 ; Rajaratnacari, p. 51. ^ Mahawanso, ch. xxxiv. p. 214. * Hardy's Eastern Mmachism, ch. viii. p, 68. 364 THE SINGHALESE CHRONICLES. [Part III. li.c. bestowed by royal piety, by private munificence, and 1*'^- by mortuary gifts, that ere many centuries had elapsed the temples of Ceylon absorbed a large proportion of the landed property of the kingdom, and their pos- sessions were not only exempted from taxation, but accompanied by a right to the compulsory labour of the temple tenants ^ As tlie esiates so made over to religious uses lay for the most part in waste districts, the quantity of land which was thus brought under cultivation necessarily involved lartje extensions of the means of irrisfation. To supply these, reservoirs were formed on such a scale as to justify the term " consecrated lakes," by which they are described in the Singhalese annals.^ Where the circumstances of the ground permitted, their formation was effected by drawing an embankment across the embouchure of a valley so as to arrest and retain the waters by which it was traversed, and so vast were the dimensions of some of these gigantic tanks that many yet in existence still cover an area of from fifteen to twenty miles in circinnference. The ruins of that at Kalaweva, to the north-west of Dambool, show that its original circuit could not have been less than forty miles, its retaining bund being upwards of twelve miles long. The spill-water of stone, which remahis to the present time, is " perhaps one of the most stupend- '^ ous monuments of misapplied human labour in the island." ^ The number of these stupendous works, which were formed by the early sovereigns of Ceylon, almost ex- ceeds credibihty. Kings are named m the native annals, 1 Tlie Rajnratnacari meutions an instance, a.d. 02, of eight tliousand rice fields bestowed in one gi-ant, and similar munificence is recorded in numerous instances prior, to a.d. 204. — Rajaratnncari, p. 57, 59, G4, 74, 11.3, &c. MaJtawanso, ch. xxxv. p. 223, 224 5 ch. xxxvi. p. 233. ^ Rajaratnacari, ch. ii. p. 37 ; Raja- vali, p. 237. ^ TuRNOUR, 3Iahawanso, p. 12. The tank of Kalaweva was formed by Dhatu Sena, a.d. 459. — Maha- watisOf ch. xxxviii. p. 257. I Chap. VI.] INFLUENCE OF BUDDHISM ON CIVILISATION. 3Go each of wliom made from fifteen to thirty \ together b.c. with canals and all the appurtenances for irrigation, i^^- Originally these vast imdertaldngs were completed " for the benefit of the country," and " out of compassion for living creatures ; " ^ but so early as the first century of the Christian era, the custom became prevalent of forming tanks with the pious intention of conferring the lands which they enriched on the church. Wide districts, rendered fertile by the interception of a river and the formation of suitable canals, were appropriated to the maintenance of the local priesthood ^ ; a tank and the thousands of acres which it fertilised were sometimes assigned for the perpetual repau-s of a dagoba '^, and the revenues of whole villages and their surrounding rice fields were devoted to the support of a single wihara.^ So lavish were these endowments, that one king, who signahsed Ins reign by such extravagances as laying a carpet seven miles in length, " in order tliat pilgrims might proceed with unsoiled feet all the way from the Kadambo river (the Malwatte oya) to the mountain Chetiyo (Miliintala), awarded a priest who had presented him with a draught of water during the construction of a wiliara, " land within the circumference of half a yoyana (eight miles) for the maintenance of the temple."^ It was in this manner that the beautiful tank at Mineri, one of the most lovely of these artificial lakes, was enclosed by Maha Sen, a.d. 275 ; and, together with the 80,000 amonams of ground which it waters, was ' liajarattutcari, -p. 4:1, 45, 54:, 55 ; I ^ Mahmvcmso, ch. xxxiv. p. 210; King Saidaitissa B.C. 137, made | xxxv. p. 221 ; xxxviii. p. 237. Rqja- " eighteen lakes " (liajavali, p. 233). ratnacari, ch. ii. p. 57, 59, 64, 69, King Wasabha, who ascended the j 74. throne a.d. 02, " caused sixteen * Muliawanso, ch. xxxv. p. 215, large lakes to be enclosed " {Raja- I 218, 223 ; ch. xxxvii. p. 234 ; Raja- ratnacari, p. 57). Detu Tissa, A.D. ratnacari, ch. ii. p. 51. TmtNOUR's 253, excavated six (Rajavali, p. 237), and King Maha Sen, a.d. 275, seven- teen {Mahuwanw, ch. xxxviii. p 230). "^ Mahaiuanso, ch. xxxvii. p. 242. l^pifome, p. 21. ^ 3Iahawanso, ch. xxxv. p. 218, 221 ; Rajaratnacari, ch. ii. p. 51 ; Rajaviai, p. 241. ** 3Iahaivanso, ch. xxxiv. p. 3. 366 THE SINGHALESE CHRONICLES. [Part III. B.C. lOt. conferred on the Jeytawana Wiliara which the king had just erected at Anarajapoora.' To identify the crown still more closely with the interests of agriculture, some of the kings superintended pubhc works for irrigating the lands of the temples ^ ; and one more enthusiastic than the rest toiled in the rice fields to enhance tlie merit of conferring their produce on the priesthood.^ These broad possessions, the church, under all vicissi- tudes and revolutions, has succeeded in retaining to the present day. Their territories, it is true, have been diminished in extent by national decay ; the destruction of works for irrigation has converted into wilderness and jungle plains once teeming with fertility ; and the mild policy of the British government, by abohshing raja-kariya^, has emancipated the peasantry, who are no longer the serfs either of the temples or the chiefs. But in every district of the island the priests are in the enjoyment of the most fertile lands, over which the crown exercises no right of taxation ; and such is the extent of then* possessions that, although their precise hmits have not been ascertained by the local govern- ment, they have been conjectured with probabihty to be equal to one-third of the cultivated land of the island. One pecuharity in the Buddhist ceremonial served at all times to give a singular impulse to the progress of horticulture. Flowers and garlands are introduced in its rehgious rites to the utmost excess. The atmosphere of the wiharas and temples is rendered oppressive with the perfume of champac and jessamine, and the shrine of the deity, the pedestals of his image, and the steps leading to the temple are strewn thickly with blos- ' Rajaratnacari, ch. ii. p. 69. 2 Tuknour's Epitome, p. 33. 3 31nh(nvans<>, ch. xxxiv. "The Buddlii^t kings of Burinali are still accustoiiied to boast, almost in the terms of the Mahawanso, of the dis- tinction which tliey have earned, by the midtitudes of tanks they have constructed or restored. See Yule's Narrative of the Mission to Ava in 1855, p. 106. * Compulsory labour. Chap. VI.] INFLUENCE OF BUDDHISM ON CIVILISATION. 367 soms of the iiagaha and the lotus. At an earher period the profusion in which these beautiful emblems were employed in sacred decorations appears almost incre- dible ; the Mahawanso relates that the Euanwelle da- goba, which was 270 feet in height, was on one occasion "festooned with garlands from pedestal to piimacle till it resembled one uniform bouquet ; " and at another time, it and the lofty dagoba at Miliintala were buried under heaps of jessamine from the ground to tlie summit.^ Fa Hian, in describing his visit to Anaraja- poora in the fourth century, dwells with admu-ation and wonder on the perfumes and flowers lavished on thek worsliip by the Singhalese^; and the native histo- rians constantly allude as famihar incidents to the profusion in which they were employed on ordinary occasions, and to the formation by successive kings of innumerable gardens for the floral requirements of the temples. The capital was surrounded on all sides ^ by flower gardens, and these were multiplied so extensively that, according to the Bajaratnacari, one was to be found within a distance of foiu- leagues in any part of Ceylon.* Amongst the regulations of the temple built at Dambedinia, in tlie thirteenth centmy, was " every day an ofiering of 100,000 flowers, and each day a different flower."^ Another advantage conferred by Buddhism on the country was the planting of fruit trees and esculent vege- tables for the gratuitous use of travellers in all the fre- quented parts of the island. The historical evidences of this are singularly corroborative of the genuineness of the B.C. 104. ' 3Iahawanso, cli. xxxIa'. ; Raja- ratnacari, p. 52, 53. * Fa Hian. Foe Koue Ki, cli. xxxviii. p. 335. 3 Rajavali, p. 227 j Malmivanso, cli. xi. p. 67. ^ Rajaratnacari, p. 29, 49. Amongst the officers attached to the great establishments of the priests hi Mihin- tala, A.D. 240, there ai'e enumerated in an mscription eugTaven on a rock there, a secretary, a treasurer, a physician, a surgeon, a painter, twelve cooks, twelve thatchers, ten carpen- ters, six carters, and twojlorists. ^ Rajaratnacari, p. 103. The same book states that anotlier king, in the fifteenth century, " offered no less than 0,480,320 sweet smelling tlowers " at the shrine of the Tooth. —lb., p. 130. 3G8 THE SINGHALESE CHRONICLES. [Part III. B.C. 104. Buddhist edicts engraved on various rocks and monu- ments in India, the deciphering of which was the grand achievement of Prinsep and his learned coadju- tors. On the pillars of Delhi, Allahabad, and other places, and on the rocks of Girnar and Dhauh, there exist a number of Pah inscriptions purporting to be edicts of Asoca (the Dharmasoca of the 3Iahawa?iso), King of Magadha, in the third century before the Christian era, who, on his conversion to the religion of Buddha, commissioned Mahindo, his son, to undertake its establishment in Ceylon. In these edicts, which were promulgated in the vernacular dialect, the king endea- voured to impress both upon his subjects and allies, as well as those who, although aliens, were yet " united in the law" of Buddha, the divine precepts of their great teacher ; prominent amongst which are the prohibition against taking animal hfe \ and the injunction that, " everywhere wholesome vegetables, roots, and fruit trees shall be cultivated, and that on the roads wells shall be dug and trees planted for the enjoyment of men and animals." In apparent conformity with these edicts, one of the kings of Ceylon, Add^agaimunu, a.d. 20, is stated in the Mahawaiiso to have " caused to be planted throughout the island every description of fruit-bearing creepers, and interdicted the destruction of animal hfe," ^ and similar acts of pious benevolence, performed by command of various other sovereigns, are adverted to on numerous occasions. ^ It is curious that one of these edicts of Asoca, who was coteni- porary with Devenipiatissa, is ad- dressed to " all the conquered terri- tories of the raja, even unto the ends of the earth, as in Chola, in Pida, in Keralaputra, and in Ttnnhapamii (or Ceylon)." This license of speech, reminding one of the grandiloquent epistles "from the Flaminian Gate," was no doubt assumed in virtue of the recent establishment of Buddhism, or, as it is called in the 3Iahaw(wsu, "the religion of the Vanquisher," and Asoca, as its propagator, thus claims to address the converts as his " subjects." * Malmwanso, ch. xxxv. p. 215. The king Upatissa, A.D. 368, in the midst of a solemn ceremonial, " ob- serving ants, and other insects drown- ing in an inundation, halted, and having swept them towards the bank with the featliers of a peacock's tail, and enabled them to save themselves, he continued the procession." — Ma- hdwanso, ch. xxx^di. p. 240; Raja- ratnacari. p. 49, 52 : RnjaDali, p, 228. 369 CHAP. YII. FATE OF THE ABORIGmES. It lias already been shown, that devotion and policy combined to accelerate the progress of social improve- ment in Ceylon, and that before the close of the third century of the Christian era, the island to the north of the Kandyan mountains contained numerous cities and villages, adorned with temples and dagobas, and seated in the midst of highly cultivated fields. The face of the country exhibited broad expanses of rice land, irri- gated by artificial lakes, and canals of proportionate magnitude, by which the waters from the rivers, which would otherwise have flowed idly to the sea, were diverted inland in all directions to fertihse the rice fields of the interior.'- In the formation of these prodigious tanks, the labour chiefly emploj^ed was that of tlie aboriginal in- habitants, the Yakkhos and JSTagas, directed by the science and skill of the conquerors. Their contribu- tions of tliis kind, though in the instance of the Bud- dhist converts they may have been to some extent voluntary, were, in general, the result of compulsion.^ Like the Israelites under the Eg}^tians, the aborigines were compelled to make bricks^ for the stupendous dagobas erected by their masters ^ ; and eight hundred years after the subjugation of the island, the Eajavali describes vast reservoirs and appliances for miga- tion, as being constructed by the forced labour of the B.C. 104. ^ 3Iahawanso, cli. xxxv. xxxvii. ^ In some instances the soldiers of the \uiv^ were employed in forming works of irrigation. ^ 3Iahaioanso, ch. xxxviii. ^ Ibid., ch. xxvii. VOL. 1. B B 370 THE SINGHALESE CHROXlCLIilS. [Part III. B.C. 104. Yakkhos \ uiiclGr the superintendence of Braliman engi- neers.^ This, to some extent, accounts for the prodigious amount of labour bestowed on these structures ; labour which the whole revenue of the kingdom would not have sufficed to purchase, had it not been otherwise procurable. Under this system, the fate of the aborigines was that usually consequent on the subjugation of an infe- rior race by one more highly civilised. The process of their absorption into the dominant race was slow, and for centuries they continued to exist distinct, as a subju- gated people. So firmly rooted amongst them was tlie worship both of demons and serpents, that, notwith- standing the ascendency of Buddhism, many centuries elapsed before it was ostensibly abandoned ; from time to time, " demon offerings " were made from the royal treasury ^ ; and one of the kings, in his enlarged hbe- rality, ordered that for every ten villages there should be maintained an astrologer and a " devil-dancer," in addition to the doctor and the priest.* Throughout the Singhalese chronicles, the notices of the aborigines are but casual, and occasionally contemp- tuous. Sometimes they allude to " slaves of the Yakkho tribe," ^ and in recording the progress and completion of the tanks and other stupendous works, the Mahawanso and the Bajaratnacari., in order to indicate the inferi- ority of the natives to their masters, speak of their conjoint labours as that of " men and snakes," ^ and " men and demons." ^ 1 Rajavali, p. 237, 238. Excep- tions to the extortion of forced laboiu* for public works took place under the more pious kings, who made a merit of paying the workmen employed in the erection of dagobas and other religious monuments. — llahmocmso, eh. XXXV. * 3Iah(nvanso, ch. x. ^ Mahaivanso, ch. x. ; TurkoUR's Epitome, p. 23. ^ TuENOXJii's Epitome, p. 27 ; Raja- ratnacari, ch. ii. ; Rajavali, p. 241. * 3Iuhaioanso, ch. x. ^ Rnd., ch. xix. p. 115. '' The King- Maha-Sen, anxious for the promotion of agriculture, caused many tanks to be made " by men and devils." — Mahawanso, ch. xxxvii. ; Upham's Transl. ; Rajaratnacari, p. 09 ; Rajavali, p. 237. Chap. VH.] FATE OF THE ABORIGINES. 371 Notwithstanding the degradation of the natives, it b.c. was indispensable to " befriend the interests " of a 1^"^- race so numerous and so useful ; hence, they were fre- quently employed in the mihtary expeditions of the Wi- jayan sovereigns ^ and the earlier kings of that dynasty admitted the rank of the Yakkho chiefs who shared in tJiese enterprises. They assigned a suburb of the capital for their residence ^, and on festive occasions they were seated on thrones of equal eminence with that of the king.^ But every aspkation towards a recovery of their independence was checked by a device less charac- teristic of ingenuity in the ascendant race, than of simphcity combined with jealousy in the aborigines. The feehng was encouraged and matm-ed into a con- viction which prevailed to the latest period of the Sin- ghalese sovereignty, that no individual of pure Singhalese extraction could be elevated to the supreme power, since no one could prostrate himself before one of his own nation.^ For successive generations, however, the natives, al- though treated with partial kindness, were regarded as a separate race. Even the children of Wijayo, by his first Avife Kuweni, united themselves with their maternal con- nexions on the repudiation of their mother by the king, " and retained the attributes of Yakkhos," ^ and by that designation the natives continued to be distinguished down to the reign of Dutugaimunu. In spite of every attempt at concihation, the process of amalgamation between the two races was reluctant and slow. The earhest Bengal immigrants sought Avives among the Tamils, on the opposite coast of India ^ ; and although their descendants intermarried with the natives, the great mass of the population long held aloof from the invaders, and occasionally vented ' Malimvanso, ch. x. 2 Bml, cb. X. p. 67. 3 lUd., p. 06. * Joinville's Asiat. JR.es. vol. vii. p. 422. ^ Mahmvanso, cli. vii. <5 Ihid., p. 53. B B 2 372 THE SINGHALESE CHRONICLES. [Part III. B.C. their impatience in rebellion.^ Hence the progress' of civihsation amongst them was but partial and slow, and in the narratives of the early rulers of the island there is ample evidence that the aborigines long retained their habits of shyness and timidity. Notwithstanding the frequent resort of every nation of antiquity to its coasts, the accounts of the first voy- agers are almost wholly confined to descriptions of the loveliness of the country, the singular brilhancy of its jewels, the richness of its pearls, the sagacity of its elephants, and the dehcacy and abundance of its spices ; but the information which they furnish regarding its inhabitants is so uniformly meagre, as to attest the absence of intercourse ; and the writers of all nations, Eomans, Greeks, Arabians, Chhiese and Indians, concur in their allusions to the unsocial and uncivihsed customs of the islanders.^ As the Beno;al adventurers advanced into the interior of the island, a large section of the natives withdrew into the forests and hunting grounds on the eastern and southern coasts.^ There, subsisting by the bow ^ and the chase, they adhered, with moody tenacity, to the rude habits of their race ; and in the Veddah of the present day, there is still to be recognised a remnant of the un- tamed aborigines of Ceylon.^ Even those of the original race who slowly conformed to the rehgion and habits of their masters, were never entirely emancipated from the ascendency of their ancient superstitions. Traces of the worship of snakes and demons are to the present hour clearly perceptible amongst them ; the Buddhists still resort to the incan- ^ Mahcnvanso, cli. Ixxxv. "^ See an account of these singular peculiarities, Vol. I. P. iv. c. vii. ^ Hiouen Tlisamj, the Chinese geo- grapher, who visited India in the seventli centuiy, says that at that time the Yakkhos had retired to the south-east corner of Ceylon ; — and liere their descendants, the Veddahs, are found at the present day. — ?«.'/- ayes, l^-c, liv. iv. p. 200. * Mahawanso, ch. xxiv. p. 145, xxxiii. p. 204. ^ De Al\vis, Sidath Sangara, p. xvii. For an account of the Veddaha and their present condition, see Vol. II. P. IX. ch. iii. CuAP. VII.] FATE OF THE ABORIGINES. 373 tations of the "devil dancers" in case of danger and b.c. emergency' ; a Singhalese, rather than put a Cobra de ^^^' CapeUo to death, encloses the reptile in a wicker cage, and sets it adrift on the nearest stream ; and in the island of Nainativoe, to the south-west of Jaffa, there was till recently a little temple, dedicated to the goddess Naga Tambiran, in which consecrated serpents were tenderly reared by the Pandarams, and daily fed at the expense of the worshippers.^ ^ For an account of Demon wor- ship as it still exists in Ceylon, see Sir J. Emeeson Tennent's History of Christianity in CeyJmi, ch. v. p. 230. - Casie Chitiy's Gazetteer, i^x,, p. 169. B li 3 374 THE SINGHALESE CHRONICLES. [Part HI. CHAP. VIII. EXTINCTION OF THE " GREAT DYNASTY." B-c. From the death of Dutugannurm to the exhaustion ' of the superior dynasty on the death of Maha-Sen, a.d. 301, there are few demonstrations of pious munificence to signahse the poHcy of the intervening sovereigns. The king whom, next to Devenipiatissa and Dutugai- munu, the Buddhist liistorians rejoice to exalt as one of the champions of the faith, was Walagam-bahu 1}, whose reign, though marked by vicissitudes, was pro- ductive of lasting benefit to the national faith. Wala- gam-bahu ascended the throne B.C. 104., but was almost immediately forced to abdicate by an incursion of the Malabars ; who, concerting a simultaneous landing at several parts of the island, combined their movements so successfully that they seized on Anarajapoora, and drove the king into conceahnent in the mountains near Adam's Peak ; and whilst one portion of the invaders returned laden with plunder to the Dekkan, then- com- panions remained behind and held undisputed possession of the northern parts of Ceylon for nearly fifteen years. In this and the frequent incursions which followed, the Malabar leaders were attracted by the wealth of the country to the north of the MahaweUi-ganga, the southern portion of the island being either too wild and unproductive to present a temptation to conquest, or too steep and inaccessible to afford facilities for in- vasion. Besides, the highlanders who inhabit the lofty ranges that he around Adam's Peak ; (a district known Called in the Mahawanso, " Wata-gamini," Chap. VIII.] EXTINCTIOX OF THE " GREAT DYNASTY." .375 as Malaya, " the region of mountains and torrents,")^ n.c. tlien and at all times exhibited their superiority over ^'^"'• the lowlanders in vigour, courage, and endurance. Hence the petty kingdoms of Maya and Eohuna af- forded on every occasion a refuge to the royal family when driven from the northern capital, and furnished a force to assist in their return and restoration. Wala- gam-bahu, after many years' concealment there, was at last enabled to resume the offensive, and succeeded in driving out the infidels, and recovering possession of the sacred city, an event which he commemorated in the usual manner by the erection of dagobas, tanks, and wiharas. THE ALU WIHARA, NEAR MATELLE But the achievement by which most of all he entitled himself to the gratitude of the Singhalese annalists, was the reduction to writins; of the doctrines and discourses of Buddha, which had been orally delivered by Mahindo, and previously preserved by tradition alone. These sacred volumes, which may be termed the Buddhist ^ 3Iahaivanso, ch. vii. B n 4 376 THE SINGHALESE CHUONICLES. [Part III. B.C. 89. B.C. G2. B.C. 50. B.C. 47. Scriptures, contain tlie Pittakataya, and its comment- aries the Attliakatha, and were compiled by a company of priests in a cave to the north of Matelle, known as the Aloo-wihara.^ Tliis, and other caverns in which the king had sought conceahnent during his adversity, he caused to be converted into rock temples after his restoration to power. Amongst the rest, Dambool, which is the most remarkable of the cave temples of Ceylon from its vastness, its elaborate ornaments, and the romantic beauty of its situation and the scenery surrounding it. The history of the Buddhist rehgion in Ceylon is not, however, a tale of uniform prosperity. The lirst of its domestic enemies was Kaga, the grandson of the pious Walagam-bahu, whom the native histo- I'ians stigmatise by the prefix of " chora " or the " ma- rauder." His story is thus briefly but emphatically told in the Mahawanso : "During the reign of his father Mahachula, Chora Naga wandered through the island leading the life of a robber ; returning on the demise of the king he assumed the monarchy; and in the places which had denied him an asylum dming his marauding career, he impiously destroyed the wiharas.''^ After a reign of twelve years he was poisoned by his queen Anula, and regenerated in the Lokantariko heU."3 His son, King Kuda Tissa, was also poisoned by his mother, in order to clear her own way to the thi'one. The Sin2;halese annals thus exhibit the unusual incident of a queen enrolled amongst the monarchs of the great dynasty — -a precedent which was followed in after times ; ^ Majaratnncari, cli.i. p. 43. Abou- zeyd states that at that time public writers were employed in recording the traditions of the island : *' Le Royaume de Serendyb a une loi et des docteurs qui s'assembleut de temps en temps comme se reunissent chez nous les personnes qui recueil- lent les traditions du prophete^ et li's Indiens se rendent aupres des docteurs, et ecrivent sous leurs dictee, la vie de leurs prophetes et les preceptes de leur loi." — Reinatjd, Itclation, SjC, tom. i. p. 127. * Mahawanso, ch. xxxiii. ; Raja- vali, p. 224; Tfhxour's Epitome, p. 19 ; Rnjaratnacari, ch. i. p. 43, 44. ^ 3Iah(twanso, oh. xxxiv. p. 209. Chap. VIII.] EXTINCTION OF THE " GEEAT DYNASTY," 377 Queen Siwalli having reigned in the succeeding cen- b.c. tury, A.D. 37, Queen Lila-wati, in a.d. 1197, and Queen ^7. Kalyana-wati in a.d. 1202. From the excessive vileness of her character, the first of these Singhalese women who attained to the honours of sovereignty is denounced in the Mahawanso as " the infamous Anuhi." In the enormity of her crimes and debauchery slie was the Messahna of Ceylon; — she raised to the throne a porter of the palace with whom she cohabited, descending herself to the subordinate rank of Queen Consort, and poisoned him to promote a carpenter in his stead. A carrier of firewood, a Brahman, and numerous other paramours followed in rapid succession, and shared a similar fate, till the kingdom was at last reheved from the opprobrium by a son of Prince Tissa, who put the murderess to death, and restored the royal hue in his own person. His successors for more than two centuries ^ ^ were a race of pious faineants^ undistinguished by any 41 qualities, and remembered only by thek fanatical subser- viency to the priesthood. Buddhism, reheved from the fury of impiety, was next imperilled by the danger of schism. Even before the funeral obsequies of Buddha, schism had dis- played itself in Maghadha, and two centuries had not elapsed from his death till it had manifested itself on no less than seventeen occasions, and in each instance it was with diiiiculty checked by councils in which the priesthood settled the faith in relation to the points which gave rise to dispute ; but not before the actual occurrence of secessions from the orthodox church.^ The earliest differences were on questions of disciphne amongst the colleges and fraternities at Anarajapoora ; 209 but in the reign of Wairatissa, a.d. 209, a formidable controversy arose, impugning the doctrines of Buddhism, and threatening for a time to rend in sunder the sacred imity of the church.^ A.D. * Mahawanso, cb. v. p. 21. ^ Hid., cli. xxxiii. 378 THE SINGHALESE CIIEONICLES. [Part HI. A.D. 209. Buddhism, although tolerant of heresy, has ever been vehement in its persecution of schism. Boldly con- fident in its own superiority, it bears without im- patience the glaring errors of open antagonists, and seems to exult in the contiguity of competing sys- tems as if deriving strength by comparison. In this respect it exhibits a similarity to the rehgion of Brahma, which regards with composure shades of doctrinal difference, and only rises into jealous energy in support of the distinctions of caste, an infringement of which might endanger the supremacy of the priesthood.^ To the assaults of open opponents the Buddhist displays the calmest indifference, convinced that in its undiminished strength, his faith is firm and inexpugnable ; his vigilance is only excited by the alarm of internal dissent, and all his passions are aroused to stifle the symptoms of schism.^ This characteristic of the " religion of the Vanquisher " is in strict conformity, not alone with the spiiit of his ^ Plenee the indomitable liatred with wliifli the Braliinans pursued tlie disciples of Buddhism from the fourth century before Christ to its final expulsion from Hindustan. " Abundant proofs," says Turnour, " may be adduced to show the fa- natical ferocity with which these two great sects persecuted each other; and which subsided into passive hatred and contempt, only when the parties were no longer placed in the position of actual collision." — Introd. Mahawanso, p. xxii. ^ In its earliest form Buddhism was equally averse to persecution, and the 3Iahmvanso extols the libe- rality of Asoca in giving alms indis- criminately to the members of all religions (Mahawanso, ch. v. p. 23). A sect which is addicted to persecu- tion is not likely to speak approvingly of toleration, l)ut the Blahatvanso re- cords with evident satisfaction the courtesy paid to the sacred things of Buddhism by the believers in other doctrines ; thus the Nagas did homage to the relics of Buddha and mourned their removal from Moimt Meru (Mahawanso, ch. xxxi. p. 189) ; the Yakkhos assisted at the building of dagobas to enshrine them, and the Brahmans were the first to respect the Bo-tree on its arrival in Ceylon {Ih. ch. xix. p. 119). CosmasIndico- PLETTSTES, whose informant, Sopater, visited Ceylon in the sixth centmy, records that there was then the most extended toleration, and that even the Nestorian Christians had perfect freedom and protection for their worship. Among the Buddhists of Burmah, however, " although they are tolerant of the practice of other religions by those who profess them, secession from the national faith is rigidly pro- hibited, and a convert to any otlier form of faith incurs the penalty of death." — Professor Wilson, Juurn. Roij. Asiat. Soc. vol. xvi. p. 261. Chap. Vlll.] EXTINCTION OF THE " GREAT DYNASTY. 379 doctrine, but also with the letter of the law laid down for the guidance of his disciples. Two of the singular rock-inscriptions of India dciiphered by Prinsep, in- culcate the duty of leaving the profession of different faiths unmolested ; on the ground, that " all aim at moral restraint and purity of hfe, although all cannot be equally successful in attaining to it." The sentiments embodied in one of the edicts ^ of King Asoca are very striking; : " A man must honour his own faith, Avithout blaming that of his neighbour, and thus Avill but httle that is wrong occur. There are even circumstances under which the faith of others should be honoured, and in actiuQ' thus a man increases his own faith and weakens that of others. He who acts differently, diminishes his own faith and injures that of another. Whoever he may be who honours his own faith and blames that of others out of devotion to his own, and says, ' let us make our faith conspicuous,' that man merely injures the faith he holds. Concord alone is to be desired." Tlie obhgation to maintain the religion of Buddha was as bindinsj as the command to abstain from as- sailing that of its rivals, and hence the kings who had treated the snake-worshippers with kindness, who had made a state provision for maintaining " offerings to demons," and built dwelhngs at the capital to accom- modate the " ministers of foreign religions," rose in fierce indignation against the preaching of a firm be- Hever in Buddha, who ventured to put an independent interpretation on points of faith. They burned the books of the Wytulians, as the new sect were called, and frustrated their irreligious attempt.^ The first A.n. 201). ^ The twelfth tablet, which, as translated by Buenofp and Pro- fessor WiLSOX, will he found in Mrs. Speir's Life in Ancient India, book ii. ch. iv. p. 239. ^ The Mahawnnso throws no light on the nature of the Wytulian (or Wettidyan) heresy (ch. xxvii. p. 227), but the Rajaratnacari insinuates that Wytulia was a Brahman who had " subverted by craft and intrigue the religion of Buddha " (ch. ii. p. 61 ). As it is stated in a further passage that the priests who were implicated were stripped of their habits, it is evident that the innovation liad been introduced vmder the garb of Buddha. — Rajarntnacari, ch. ii. p. 05. 380 THE SINGHALESE CHRONICLES. [Part II L A.D. 209. A.T). 248. A.D. 275. effort at repression was ineffectual. It was made by the King Wairatissa, a.d. 209 ; but within forty years the schismatic tendency returned, the persecution was renewed, and the apostate priests, after being branded on tlie back were ignominiously transported to the ojDposite coast of India. ^ The new sect had, however, estabhshed an interest in high places ; and Sangha-mitta, one of the exiled priests, returning from banishment on the death of the king, so ingratiated himself with his successor, that he was en- trusted Avith the education of the king's sons. One of the latter, Maha-Sen, succeeded to the throne, a.d. 275, and, openly professing his adoption of the Wytulian tenets, dispossessed the popular priesthood, and overthrew the Brazen Palace. With the materials of the great wihara, he constructed at the sacred Bo-tree a building as a receptacle for rehcs, and a temple in which the statue of Buddha was to be worshipped according to the rites of the reformed religion.''^ ' So bold an innovation roused the passions of the nation ; the people prepared for revolt, and a conflict was imminent, when the schismatic Sangha-mitta was suddenly assassinated, and the king, convinced of his ^ Tuknotjr's E2ntome, p. 25, 3Ia- hnwanso, ch. xxxvi. p. 232. As the Mahawanso intimates in another pas- sage that amongst the priests who were banished to the opposite coast of India, there was one Sangha- mitta, " who was profoundly versed in the rites of the demon faith ('bhuta'), it is probable that out of the Wytidian heresy grew the system which prevails to the present day, by which the heterodox dewales and halls for devil dances are built in close contiguity to the temples and wiharas of the orthodox Buddhists, and the barbarous rites of demon worship are incorporated with the abstractions of the national religion. On the restoration of Maha-Sen to the true faith, the Muhmoanso repre- sents him as destroying the dewales at Anarajapoora in order to replace them with wiharas (llahawanso, ch. xxxvii. p. 237). An account of the mingling of Brahmanical with Budd- hist worship, as it exists at the pre- sent day, will be foimd in Haedy's Oriental 3Ionachism, ch. xix. Pro- fessor II. H. Wilson, in his Historical Sketch of the Kinr/doin of Tandija, alludes to a heresy, which, anterior to the sixth century, disturbed tlie sant/attar or college of Madura ; the leading feature of which was the ad- mixture of Buddhist doctrines with the rite of the Brahmans, and '' this heresy," he says, "some traditions assert was introduced from Ceylon." — Asiat. Jnurn. vol. iii. p. 218. 2 Mahawanso, ch. xxxvii. p. 235. Chap. YIII.] EXTINCTION OF THE " GREAT DYNASTY." 381 errors, addressed himself with energy to restore the ^.p. buildings he had destroyed, and to redress the mis- 275. chiefs caused by his apostacy. He demolished the dewales of the Hindus, in order to use their sites for Buddhist wiharas ; he erected nunneries, constructed the Jaytawanarama (a dagoba at Anarajapoora), formed the great tank of Mineri by drawing a dam across the Kara-ganga and that of Kandelay or Dantalawa, and consecrated the 20,000 fields which it irrigated to the Dennanaka Will are. ^ "He repaired numerous dilapi- dated temples throughout the island, made offerings of a thousand robes to a thousand priests, formed sixteen tanks to extend cultivation — there is no defining the extent of his charity" — and having performed during his existence acts botli of piety and impity, the Maha- wanso cautiously adds, " his destiny after death was according to his merits."^ With King Maha-Sen end the glories of the " superior a.d. d}masty " of Ceylon. The " sovereigns of the aSm/?^z^'«72.s^, 302. who followed," says the Rajavali, "were no longer of the unmixed blood, but the offspring of parents, only one of whom was descended from the sun, and the other from the bringer of the Bo-tree or the sacred tooth ; on that account, because the God Sakkraia had ceased to watch over Ceylon, because piety had dis- appeared, and the city of Anarajapoora was in ruins, and because the fertihty of the land was diminished, the kings who succeeded Maha-Sen w^ere no longer reverenced as of old."^ The prosperity of Ceylon, though it may not have attained its acme, was sound and auspicious in the beginning of the fourth century, when the solar line became extinct. Piliiti, the northern portion of the island, was that which most engaged the sohcitude of the crown, from its containing the ancient capital, » Tfrnoitr's Epitome, p. 25. I 3 Jtajamli, p. 239. "^ Mdhaicamo, cli. xxxiii. p. 238. | 382 THE SINGHALESE CHRONICLES. [Part III. A.D. whence it obtained its designation of the Eaja-ratta or ^^2- country of the kings. Here the labour bestowed on irrigation had made the food of tlie popuhxtion abundant, and the sums expended on the adornment of the city, the multitude of its sacred structures, the splendour of its buildings, and the beauty of its lakes and gardens, ren- dered it no inappropriate representative of the wealth and fertihty of the kingdom. Anarajapoora had from time immemorial been a venerated locahty in the eyes of the Buddhists ; it had been honoured by the visit of Buddha in person, and it was already a place of importance when Wijayo effected his landing in the fifth century before the Christian era. It became the capital a century after, and the King Pandukabhaya, who formed the ornamen- tal lake which adjoined it, and planted gardens and parks for pubhc festivities, built gates and four suburbs to the city ; set apart ground for a pubhc cemetery, and erected a gilded hall of audience, and a palace for his own residence. The Mahawanso describes with particularity the offices of the Naggaraguttiko, who was the chief of the city guard, and the organisation of the low caste Chandalas, who were entrusted with the cleansing of the capital and the removal of the dead for interment. For these and for the royal huntsmen villages were constructed in the environs, mingled with which were dwellings for the sub- jugated native tribes, and temples for the worship of foreign devotees.^ Seventy years later, when Mahindo arrived in Ceylon, the details of his reception disclose the increased mag- nificence of the capital, the richness of the royal parks, and the extent of the state estabhshments ; and describe the chariots in which the king di^ove to Mihintala to welcome his exalted guest.^ Yet these were but prehminary to the grander con- I Mahmvanso, cli. x. p. 66. "^ Ihid., ch. xiv., xv., XX. CiiAi-. VIII.] EXTnX'TIOX OF THE " GREAT DYNASTY." 383 A.D. structions wliicli gave tlie city its lasting renown stupendous dagobas raised by successive monarclis, each ^^^ eaoer to surpass the conceptions of his predecessors ; temples in which were deposited statues of gold adorned with gems and native pearls ; the decorated terraces of the Bo-tree, and the Brazen Palace, with its thousand chambers and its richly embellished halls. The city was enclosed by a rampart upwards of twenty feet in lieight^, which was afterwards replaced by a Avail"; and, so late as the fourth century, the Chinese tra- veller Fa Hian describes the condition of the place in terms which fully corroborate the accounts of the ^ By Wasabha, a. d. 66. Maha- tvdnso, cli. XXXV. p. 222. ^ TtJRNOUR, iu his Epitome of the History of Ceylon, says that Auara- japoora was enclosed by a rampart seven cubits high, B. C 41, and that A. D. 66 King- Wasabha built a wall round the city sixteen gows in cir- cumference. As he estimates the gow at four English miles, this would give an area equal to about 300 square miles. A space so prodigious for the capital seems to 1)e dispro- portionate to the extent of the king- dom, and far too extended for the wants of the population. Tukxoijr does not furnish the authority on which he gives the dimensions, nor have I been able to discover it in the Hqjavali nor in the Rdjayatnacari. The 3Iahawanso alludes to the fact of Anarajapoora having been fortified by Wasabha, but, instead of a wall, the work which it describes this king to have undertaken, was the raising of the height of the rampart from seven cubits to eighteen {Mahmcanso, ch. xxxv. p. 222). Major Forbes, in his account of the ruins of the ancient city, repeats the story of their former ex- tent, in which he no doubt considered that the high authority of Tumour iu matters of antiquity was sustained by a statement made by Lieutenant Skinner, who had surveyed the ruins in 1822, to the effect that he had dis- covered near Alia-parte the remains of masonry, which he concluded to be a portion of the ancient city wall rimning north and south and forming the west face ; and, as Alia-parte is seven miles from Anarajapoora, he regarded this discovery as confirming the accoimt given of its original di- mensions. Lieutenant, now Major, Skinner has recently informed me that, on mature reflection, he has reason to fear that his first inference was precipitate. In a letter of the 8th of May, 1856, he says : — " It was in 1833 I first visited Anara- japoora, when I made my survey of its ruins. The supposed foundation of the western face of the city wall was pointed out near the village of Alia- parte by the people, and I hastily adopted it. I had not at the time leisure to follow up this search and determine how far it extended, but from subsequent "vasits to the place I have been led to doubt the accu- racy of this tradition, though on most other points I foimd the natives tolerably accurate in their knowledge of the histoiy of the ancient capital. I haA'e since sought for traces of the other faces of the supposed wall, at the distances from the centre of the city at which it was said to have existed, but without success." The ruins which Major Skinner saw at Alia-parte are most probably those of one of the numerous forts which the Singhalese kings erected at a much later period, to keep the Malabars iu check. 384 THE SINGHALESE CHRONICLES. [Part III. A.T>. Mahawanso. It was crowded, lie says, with nobles, 302. magistrates, and foreign merchants ; the houses were handsome, and the pubhc buildings richly adorned. The streets and highways were broad and level, and halls for preaching and reading hana were erected in all the thoroughfares. He was assured that the island contained not less than from fifty to sixty thousand ecclesiastics, who all ate in common ; and of whom from five to six thousand were supported by the bounty of the king. The sacred tooth of Buddha was publicly exposed on sacred days in the capital with gorgeous ceremonies, which he recounts, and thence carried in procession to " the mountains Avithout fear ; " the road to which was perfumed and decked with flowers for the occasion ; and the festival was concluded by a dramatic representation of events in the life of Buddha, illustrated by scenery and costumes, with figures of elephants and stags, so delicately coloured as to be undistinguishable from nature.^ ^ Fa IIian, Foe Kom Ki, ch. xxxviii. p. 334, &c. 385 CHAP. IX. KINGS OF THE " LOWER DYNASTY." The story of the kings of Ceylon of the Sulu-umnse a.d. or " lower hne," is but a narrative of the decline of the ^^'^" power and prosperity which had been matured under the Bengal conquerors and of the rise of the Malabar marauders, whose ceaseless forays and incursions even- tually reduced authority to feebleness and the island to desolation. The vapid biography of the royal imbeciles who filled the throne from the third to the thirteenth centiuy scarcely embodies an incident of sufficient in- terest to diversify the monotonous repetition of temples founded and dagobas repau-ed, of tanks constructed and priests endowed with lands reclaimed and fertilised by the "forced labour" of the subjugated races. Civil dissensions, religious schisms,- royal intrigues and assas- sinations contributed equally with foreign invasions to diminish the influence of the monarchy and exhaust the strength of the kingdom. Of sixty-two sovereigns who reigned from the death of Maha-Sen, a.d. 301, to the accession of Prakrama Bahu, A.D. 1153, nine met a violent death at the hands of their relatives or subjects, two ended their days in exile, one was slain by the Malabars, and four com- mitted suicide. Of the hves of the larger number the Buddhist historians fail to furnish any important inci- dents ; they relate merely the merit which each acquired by his hberahty to the national rehgion or the more substantial benefits conferred on the people by the for- mation of lakes for irrigation. VOL. I, c c 386 THE SINGHALESE CHRONICLES. [Part III. A.D. 330. A.D. 339. Unembarrassed by any qnestions of external policy or foreign expeditions, and limited to a narrow range of internal administration, a few of the early Idngs addressed themselves to intellectnal pnrsuits. One im- mortahsed himself in the estimation of the devout by his skill in painting and sculpture, and in carving in ivory, arts which he displayed by modelling statues of Buddha, and which he employed himself in teaching to his subjects. '^ Another was equally renowned as a medical author and a practitioner of surgery^, and a third was so passionately attached to poetry that in despair for the death of Kalidas^, he flung himself into the flames of the poet's funeral pile. With the exception of the embassy sent from Ceylon to Eome in the reign of the Emperor Claudius^, the earhest diplomatic intercourse with foreigners of which a record exists, occurred in the fourth or fifth centuries, when the Singhalese appear to have sent ambassadors to the Emperor Julian^, and for the first time to have established a friendly connection with China. It is strange, considering the religious sympathies which united the two people, that the native chronicles make no mention of the latter negotiations or their results, so that we learn of them only through Chinese historians. The Encyclopoedia of Ma-touan-lin, written at the close of the thirteenth century*^, records that Ceylon 1 Detoo Tissa, a.d. 330, 3Iaha- wanso, xxxvii. p. 242. 2 Bucllia Daasa, a.d. 389. IlaJm- wanso, xxxvii. p. 243. His work on niedic-ine, entitled Sara-sangraha or S'a?-at-tha- Sambo, is still extant, and native practitioners profess to consult it. — TuKNotTR's Epitome,^. 27. ^ Not Kalidas, the author of Sa- cmitala, to whom Sir W. Jones awards the title of " The Shakspeare of the East," but Pandita Kalidas, a Sin- ghalese poet, none of whose verses have been preserved. His royal patron was Kumara Das, king of Ceylon, a.d. 513. For an account of Kalidas, see De Alwis's Siclath San- gara, p. cliv. * Plus'y, lib. vi. c. 24. ^ Ammiantjs Maecellinits, lib. xx. c. 7. ^ Klapkoxh doubts, '^si la science de I'Europe a produit jusqu'a pre- sent uu ouvrage de ce genre aussi bien execute et capable de soutenir la comparaison avec cette encyclo- pedic chinoise." — Journ. Adat. torn. xxi. p. 3. See also Asiatic Jottrnal, London, 1832, vol. xxxv. p. 110. It has been often reprinted in 100 large Chap. IX.] KINGS OF THE " LOWER DYNASTY." 387 first entered into political relations with China in the a.d. fourth century.' It was about the year 400 a.d., says ^00 the author, " in the reign of the Emperor Nyan-ti, that ambassadors arrived from Ceyloji bearing a statue of Fo in jade-stone four feet two inches high, painted in five colours, and of such singular beauty that one would have almost doubted its being a work of human ingenuity. It was placed in the Buddhist temple at Kien-Kang (Nankin)." In the year 428 a.d., the King of Ceylon (Maha Nama) sent envo3"s to offer tribute, and this homage was repeated between that period and a.d. 529, by three other Singhalese kings, whose names it is dif- ficidt to identify with their Chinese designations of Kia-oe, Kia-lo, and the Ho-h-ye. In A.D. 670, another ambassador arrived from Ceylon, and A.D. 742, Chi-lo-mi-kia sent presents to the Emperor ()f China consisting of pearls (perks de feu), golden flowers, precious stones, ivory, and pieces of fine cotton cloth. At a later period mutual intercourse became frequent between the two countries, and some of the Chinese travellers who resorted to Ceylon have left valuable records as to the state of the island. It was during the reign of Maha Nama, about the year a.d. 413 A. D., that Ceylon was visited by Fa Hian, and the ^^^ statements of the Mahawanso are curiously corroborated by the observations recorded by this Chinese traveller. lie describes accurately the geniahty of the climate, whose uniform temperature rendered the seasons unchs- tinguishable. Winter and summer, he says, are ahke unknown, but perpetual verdure reahses the idea of a volumes. M. Stanislas Julien says that iu another Chinese work, Pien-i- tien, or The Ilidonj of Fureiyii Na- tions, there is a conipihxtiou including every passage in which Chinese au- thors have written of Ceylon, which occupies about forty pages 4to. Ih. torn. xxix. p. 39. A number of these authorities will be found ex- tracted in the chapter in which I have described the intercourse be- tween China and Ceylon, Vol. I. P. v. ch. iii. 1 Between the years 317 and 420 A.T). — Joiirn. Asiat. torn, xxviii. p. 401. 388 THE SINGHALESE CHEONICLES. [Part III. A.D. 432. perennial spring, and periods for seed time and harvest are regulated by the taste of tlie husbandman. This statement has reference to the multitude of tanks which rendered agriculture independent of the periodical rains. Fa Hian speaks of the lofty monuments wliich were the memorials of Buddha, and of the gems and gold which adorned his statues at Anarajapoora. Amongst the most surprising of these was a figure in what he calls " blue jasper," inlaid Avith jewels and other precious materials, and holding in one hand a pearl of inestimable value. ' He describes the Bo-tree in terms which might ahnost be applied to its actual condition at the present day, and he states that they had recently erected a building to contain " the tooth of Buddha," which was exhibited to the pious in the middle of the third moon with processions and ceremonies which he minutely details.^ All this corresponds closely with the narrative of the Maliaicanso. The sacred tooth of Bud- dha, called at that time Ddthd dhcitu, and now the Dalada, had been brought to Ceylon a short time before Fa Hian's arrival in the reign of Kisti-Sri-Megha-warna, A.D. 311, in charge of a princess of Kalinga, who con- cealed it in the folds of her hair. And the Mahawanso with equal precision describes the procession as con- ducted by the king and by the assembled priests, in ^ It was whilst looking at this statue that Fa Hian eucoimtered an incident which he has related with touching simplicity : — " Depuis que Fa FLcan avait quitte la terre de Han, plusieui'S annees s'etaient ecou- lees ; les gens avec lesquels il avait des rapports etaient tons des homnies de coutrees etrangeres. Les nion- tagnes, les rivieres, les herhes, les arbres, tout ce qui avait frappe ses yeux etait nouveau pour lui. De {)lus, ceux qui avaient fait route avec ui, s'en etaient separes, les uns s'etant arretes, et les autres etant iiiorts. En reflechissant au pasge, son coeiu- etait toujours rempli de pen- sees et de tristesse. Tout a coup, a cote de cette figure de jaspe, il vit un niarchand qui faisait homniage a la statue d'un eventail de tafletas blanc du pays de Tsin. Sans qu'on s'en aper^ut cela lui causa une emo- tion telle que ses larmes coiUerent et remplirent ses yeux." (Fa Hian. Foe Koue Ki, ch. xxxviii. p. 333.) " Tsin " means the province of Chensi, which was the birthplace of Fa Hian. '-^ Fa Hian, Foe Koue Ki, ch. xxxviii. p. 334-5. Chap. IX.] KIXCS OF THE " LOWER DYNASTY." 389 wliicli the tooth was borne along the streets of Anaraja- poora amidst the veneration of the multitude.^ One of tlie most striking events in this period of Singiialese history was the murder of the Idng, Dhatu Sena, a.d. 459, by his son, who seized the throne under the title of Kasyapa I. The story of this outrage, which is highly illustrative of the superstition and cruelty of the age, is told with much feeling in the Mahawanso ; the author of which, Mahanamo, was the uncle of the outraged king, "Dhatu Sena was a descendant of the royal hue, wdiose family were living in retirement during the usurpation of the Malabars, A.D. 434 to 459. As a youth he had embraced the priesthood, and his future eminence was foretold by an omen. " On a certain day, when chaunting at the foot of a tree, when a shower of rain fell, a cobra de capello encircled him with its folds and covered his book with its hood." ^ He was educated by his uncle, Mahanamo, and in process of time, surrounchng himself with ad- herents, he successfully attacked the Malabars, defeated two of their chiefs in succession, put three others to death, recovered the native sovereignty of Ceylon, " and the religion which had been set aside by the foreigners. A.D. 459. ' llahmvanso, ch. xxxvii. p. 241, 249. After the funeral rites of Go- tama Buddha had been performed at Kusinara, B.C. 543, his "left ca- nine tooth" was carried to Danta- pura, the capital of Kalinga, where it was preserved for 800 years. The King of Calinga, in the reign of Maha-Sen, being on the point of en- gaging in a doubtful conflict, directed, in the event of defeat, that the sacred relic should be conveyed to Ceylon, whitlier it was accordingly taken as described. (Rajavali, p. 240.) Be- tween A.D. 1303 and 1315 the tooth was carried back to Southern India by the leader of an anny, who invaded Ceyhm and sacked Yapalioo, which was then the capital. The succeed- ing monarch, Prakrama III., went in person to Madura to negotiate its surrender, and brought it back to I'ollanarrua. Its subsequent adven- tures and its final destruction by tlie Portuguese, as recorded by De Cottto and others, will be foimd in a subse- quentpassage, see Vol. II. P. vii. ch. v. The Singhalese maintain that the Dalada, still treasured in its strong tower at Kandy, is the genuine relic, which was preserved from the Portu- guese spoilers by secreting it at Del- gamoa in SafFragam. Tijenouk's Account of the Tooth Relic of Ceylon ; Journal of the Adatic Society of Bengal, 1837, vol. vi. p. 2, p. 85G. ^ This is a frequent traditionary episode in connection with the heroes of Hindu history .—ylsiVrf. Researches, vol. XV. p. 275. c c 3 390 THE SINGHALESE CHRONICLES. [Part III. A.D. lie restored to its former ascendancy." He recalled 'i^^- the fugitive inhabitants to Anarajapoora ; degraded tlie nobles who had intermarried with the Malabars, and vigorously addressed himself to repair the sacred ediiices and to restore fertihty to the lands which had been neg- lected during their hostile occupation by the strangers. He apphed the jewels from his head-dress to replace the gems of which the statue of Buddha had been despoiled. The curled hair of the divine teacher was represented by sapphires, and the lock on his forehead by threads of cold. The fomily of the king consisted of two sons and a daughter, the latter married to his nephew, who " caused her to be flogged on the thighs with a whi}) although she had committed no offence ; " on which the king, in his indignation, ordered the mother of her husband to be burned. His nephew and eldest son now conspired to dethrone him, and having made him a pri- soner, the latter " raised the cliatta " (the white parasol emblematic of royalty), and seized on the supreme power. Pressed by Ills' son to discover the depository of his treasures, the captive king entreated to be taken to Kalawapi, under the pretence of pointing out the place of their concealment, but in reahty with a determination to prepare for death, after having seen his early friend Mahanamo, and bathed in the great tank which he him- self had formerly constructed. The usurper complied, and assigned for the journey a " carriage with broken wheels," the charioteer of which shared his store of " parched rice " Avith the fallen king. " Thus worldly prosperity," says Mahanamo, who lived to write the sad story of the interview, " is like the glimmering of lightning, and what reflecting man would devote himself to its pursuit ! " The Eaja approached his friend and, " from the manner these two persons discoursed, side by side, mutually quenching the fire of their afflictions, they appeared as if endowed witli royal prosperity. Having allowed him to eat, the thero (Mahanamo) in CiiAi'. IX.] KINGS OF THE " LOWER DYNASTY.". 391 various ways administered consolation and abstracted his a.d. mind from all desire to prolong liis existence." The king ^^^• then bathed in the tank : and pointing to his friend and to it, " these," he exclaimed to the messengers, " are all the treasures I possess." He was conducted back to the capital ; and Kasyapa, suspecting that the king was concealing his riches for his second son, Moofallana, o'ave the order for his execution. Arrayed in royal insignia, he repaired to the prison of the raja, and continued to walk to and fro in his presence : till the Idng, perceiving his intention to wound liis feehngs, said mildly, " Lord of statesmen, I bear the same affection towards joii as to Mogallana." The usurper smiled and shook his head ; then stripping the king naked and casting him into chains, he built up a wall, embedding him in it with his face towards the east, a^d. and enclosed it with clay : " thus the monarch Dhatu-Sena, who was murdered by his son, united himself with Sakko the ruler of Devos." ^ The parricide next directed his groom and his cook to assassinate his brother, Avho, however, escaped to the coast of India. ''^ Failing in the attempt, he repaired to tSihagiri, a place diflicult of access to men, and having cleared it on all sides, he surrounded it with a rampart. He built three habitations, accessible only by flights of steps, and ornamented with figures of lions (siho), wlience the fortress takes its name, Siha-giri, " the Lion Eock." Hither he carried the treasui-es of his father, and here he built a palace, " equal in beauty to the ce- lestial mansion." He erected temples to Buddha, and ^ Mahmccmso, ch. xxxviii. To tliis hideous incident Malianamo adds the following curious moral : '' This ItajaDhatu Sena, at the time he was improving the Kalawapi tank, ob- served a certain priest absorbed in meditation, and not l:)eing able to rouse him from abstraction, had liim buried under the embankment by heaping earth over him. His own ) c c 4 living entombment loas the retribu- tion manifested in this life for that impious act." ^ I am indebted to the family of the late Mr. Turuom- for access to a manuscript translation of a further portion of the 3Iahawanso, from whicli this continuation of the narrative is extracted. 477. 392 THE SINGHALESE CHEONICLES. [Part III. A.r>. monasteries for his priests, but conscious of the enor- 477. mity of his crimes, these endowments were conferred in the names of his minister and his children Faihng to FOK.TIB'IED £0^X OF SIGIRI. " derive merit " from such acts, stung with remorse, and anxious to test pubhc feeling, he enlarged his deeds of charity ; he formed gardens at the capital, and planted groves of mangoes throughout the island. Desirous to enrich a wihara at Anarajapoora, he pro- posed to endow it with a village, but " the ministers of religion, regardful of the reproaches of the world, de- chned accepting gifts at the hands of a parricide. Kasyapa, bent on befriending them, dedicated the village to Buddha, after which they consented, on the ground that it was then the property of the divine teacher'' Impelled, says the Mahawanso, by the irrepressible dread of a future exist- ence, he strictly performed his " aposaka " ' vows, prac- tised the virtue of non-procrastination, acquired the " da- thanga,"^ and caused books to be written, and image and alms-edifices to be formed. Meanwhile, after an interval of eighteen years, Mo- gallana, having in his exile collected a sufficient force, returned from India to avenge the mmxler of his father ; ^ A lay devotee who takes on liini- self tlie obligation of asceticism with- out putting on the yellow robe. * The dathanga or ^'teles-dat- hanga " are the thirteen ordinances by which the cleaving to existence is de- stroyed, involving piety, abstinence, and self - mortification. — Hardy's Eastern Monacliism, ch. ii, p. 9. CuAP. IX.] KINGS OF THE " LOWEll DYNASTY." 393 mcl the brotliers encountered each other in a decisive a.d, eno-aaement at Ambatthakolo in the Seven Corles. ^^^ Kasyapa, perceiving a swamp in his front, turned tlie elephant which he rode into a side path to avoid it ; on which his army in alarm raised the shout that " their hege lord was flying," and in the confusion which fol- lowed, Mogallana, having struck off the head of his brother, returned the ki^ese to its scabbard, and led his followers to take possession of the capital ; where he avenged the death of his father, by the execution of the minister who had consented to it. He established a marine force to o'uard the island ao;ainst the descents of the Malabars, and " having purified both the orthodox dharma^ and the rehgion of the vanquisher, he died, after reigning eighteen years, signahsed by acts of piety." ^ This story as related by its eye-witness, Mahanamo, forms one of the most characteristic, as well as the best au- thenticated episodes of contemporary history presented by the annals of Ceylon. Such was the feebleness of the royal house, that of the eight kings who succeeded Mogallana between a.d. 515 and A.D. 586, two died by suicide, three by murder, and one fi'om grief occasioned by the treason of his son. The anarchy consequent upon such disorganisation stimu- lated the rapacity of the Malabars ; and the chronicles of the foUowino; centuries are filled with the accounts of their descents on the island and the misery inflicted by their excesses. ^ The doctrines of Buddha. 2 Maliawanso, ch. xxxix. Mami- sciipt ti-anslation by TuRXorR. Tur- NOUR, in his Ejiitoiiic, says Kasyapa " committed suicide on the field of battle," but this does not appear from the narrative of the Mahaivanso. A.D. 515. 394 THE SINGHALESE CHRONICLES. [Part III. CHAP. X. THE DO.MIXATIOX OF THE MALABARS. A.T1. It has been aL-eady explained that tlie invaders wlio 515. engaged in forays into Ceylon, though known by the general epithet of Malabars (or as they are designated in Pali, damilos, " Tamils "), were also natives of places in India remote from that now known as Malabar. They were, in reality, the inhabitants of one of the earliest states organised in Southern India, the kingdom of Pandya\ whose sovereigns, from their intelhgence, and their en- coiu'agement of native literature, have been appropriately styled " the Ptolemies of Ineha." Their dominions, Avhich covered the extremity of the peninsula, compreliended the greater portion of the Coromandel coast, extending to Canara on the western coast, and southwards to the sea.^ Their kingdom was subsequently contracted in dimensions, by the successive independence of Malabar, the rise of the state of Chera to the west, of Eamnad to the south, and of Chola in the east, till it sank in mo- dern times into the petty government of the Naicks of Madura.^ The relation between this portion of the Dekkan and the early colonisers of Ceylon was rendered inti- mate by many concurring incidents. Wijayo himself was connected by maternal descent with the Idng of ^ Pandya, as a kingdom, was not vmkno-WTi in classical times, and its ruler was the Bn(TiAfi»c Uai'iHtov men- tioned in the Pen'plns of the Ery- thrfcan Sea, and the king- Pandion, who sent an embassy to Augustus. — Plint, vi. 26 ; Ptolemy, vii. 1. - See an Ilidorical Sketch of the Kinf/dom of Pandi/u, by Prof. II. II. WiLSOX, Asiat. Jonni., vol. iii. 3 See coife, p. 353^ n. CiiAi'. X.] THE DOMIXATIOX OP THE JIALABARS. 395 Ivaliiiga \ now known as the Northern Circars ; his a.d. second wife was the danghter of the king of Pandya, and ^i^- the hidies who accompanied her to Ceylon were given in marriage to his ministers and officers.^ Simihir alli- ances were afterwards frequent ; and the Singhalese annalists allude on more than one occasion to the " dainilo consorts " of their sovereigns,^ Intimate in- tercourse and consanf2;uinitv, were thus established from the remotest period. Adventurers from the opposite coast were encouraged by the previous settlers ; high em]:)loyments were throw^n open to them, Malabars were subsidised both as cavalry and as seamen ; and the lirst abuse of theu* pri\"ileges w^as in the instance of the brothers Sena and Goottika, who, holding naval and military commands, took advantage of their position and seized on the throne, B.C. 237 ; apparently mth such acquiescence on the part of the people, that even the Mahawanso praises the righteousness of their reign, which was prolonged to twenty-two years, wdien they were put to death by the rightfid \\q\i to the throne.^ The easy success of the first usurpers encouraged the ambition of fresh aspirants, and barely ten years elapsed till the first regular invasion of the island took place, under the illustrious Elala, who, with an army from Mysore (then called Chola or Soli), subdued the entire of Ceylon, north of the MahaweUi-ganga, and compelled the chiefs of the rest of the island, and the kings of Eohuna and Maya, to acknowledge his supremacy and become his tributaries.^ As in the instance of the previous revolt, the people exhibited such faint resistance to the usurpation, that the reign of Elala extended to forty- four years. It is difficult to conceive that then- quies- cence under a stranger was entirely ascribable to the ' 3I(iJiawanso, cli. vi. p. 43. ^ Mahuicanso, ch. vii. p. 53 ; llie Hqjamli (p. 173) sajs they were 700 in n umber. ^ Mahmcmiso, ch. xxxviii. p. 2o3. ^ 3Iahawanso, clr. xxi. p. 127. ^ Tttunour's Epitome, p. 17; 3Ia- hawauso, ch. xxi. p. 128 ; Riijavali, p. 188. 396 THE SIXGHALESE CHROMCLES. [Part III. A.D. 515. fact, that tlie rule of tlie Malabars, although adverse to Buddhism, was characterised by justice and impartiality. Possibly they recognised to some extent their pretensions, as founded on their relationship to the legitimate sove- reigns of the island, and hence they bore their sway with- out impatience.^ The majority of the subsequent invasions of Ceylon by the Malabars partook less of the character of conquest than of forays, by a restless and energetic race, into a fertile and defenceless country. Mantotte, on the north- west coast, near Adam's Bridge, became the great place of clebarcation ; and here successive bands of marauders landed time after time without meeting any effectual resist- ance from the unwarhke Singhalese. The second great invasion took place about a century after the first, B.C. 103, when seven Malabar leaders effected simultaneous descents at different points of the coast ^, and combined with a disaffected " Brahman prince " of Eohuna, to force Walagam-bahu I. to sur- render his sovereignty. The king, after an ineffectual show of resistance, fled to the mountains of Malaya ; one of the invaders carried off the queen to the coast of India ; a third despoiled the temples of Anarajapoora and retired, whilst the others continued in possession of the capital for nearly fifteen years, till Walagam-bahu, by the aid of the Eohuna highlanders, succeeded in recovering the throne. The third great invasion on record ^ was in its cha- 1 See ante, p. 3G0, n. ^ Tdtinouk's Epitome, p. 16. The Muliaii'unso says they landed at " Mahatittha." — Mantotte, ch. xxxiii. p. 203. ^ This incursion of the Malabars is not mentioned in the Mnliawanso, but it is described in the Rajavali, p. 229, and mentioned by Tttrnoith, in his Ejntome, S^-c, p. 21. There is evidence of the conscious supremacy of the ]\Ialabars over the north of Ceylon, in the fourth century, in a very curious document, relating to that period. The existence of a co- lony of .Tews at Cochin, in the south- Vfestern extremity of the Dekkan, has long been kuowTi in Europe, and half a century ago, particulars of their condition and numbers were published by Dr. Claudius Buchanan. {Christian Researches, 4''c.) Amongst other facts, he made known their possession of Hebrew MSS. demon- sti-atiA'e of the great antiquity of their settlement in India, and also of their Chap. X.] THE DOMIXATIOX OF TITE MALABARS. 397 racter still more predatory than those which preceded a.d. it, but it was headed by a king in person, who carried 515. away 12,000 Singhalese as slaves to Mysore. It oc- curred in the reign of Waknais, a.d. 110, whose son Gaja-bahu, a.d. 113, avenged the outrage by invading the Solee country with an expedition which sailed from JafTnapatam, and brought back not only the rescued Singhalese captives, but also a multitude of Solleans, whom the king estabhshed on lands in the Alootcoor Corle, where the Malabar features are thought to be chscernible to the present day.^ A long interval of repose followed, and no fresh ex- pedition from India is mentioned in the chronicles of Ceylon till a.d. 433, when the capital was again taken by the Malabars ; the Singhalese famihes fled beyond the MahaweUi-ganga ; and the invaders occupied the entke extent of the Pihiti Eatta, where for twenty- seven years, five of them in succession administered the government, till Dhatu Sena collected forces sufficient to overpower the strangers, and, emerging from his retreat in Eohuna, recovered possession of the north of the island.^ Dhatu Sena, after his victory, seems to have made an attempt, though an ineffectual one, to reverse the pohcy which had operated under his predecessors as an in- centive to the immigration of Malabars ; settlement title deeds of land (sasanams), en- graved on plates of copper, and pre- sented to them by the early kings of that portion of the peninsida. Some of the latter have been carefidly translated into English, (see Madras Jouni., vol. xiii. xiv.). One of their MSS. has recently been brought to England, under circumstances which are recoimted by Mr. Foestek, in the third vol. of his One Primeval Languacie, p. 303. This MS. I have been permitted to examine. It is in corrupted Rabbinical Hebrew, -^Tit- ten about the year 1781, and contains a partial s^^lopsis of the modern his- tory of the section of the Jewish na- tion to whom it belongs ; with ac- counts of their arrival in the year A.D. 68, and of their reception by the Malabar kings. Of one of the latter, frequently spoken of by the honorific style of Sri Perxjmal, but identifiable ■ft-ith Ikavi Varmae, who reig-ned A.D. 379, the mamiscript says that his ^' rule extended from Goa to Colombo^ ^ Casie Chitty, Ceylon Gazetteer, p. 7. 2 Rajavall, p. 243; TuRXorR's Epitome, p. 27. 398 THE SINGHALESE CHRONICLES. [Part ITT. A.D. and intermarriages had been all along encouraged >, ^1^- and even during the recent usurpation, many Singha- lese famihes of rank had formed connections with the Damilos. The schisms among the Buddhist themselves, tending as they did to engraft Brahmanical rites upon the doctrines of the purer faith, seem to have promoted and matured the intimacy between the two people ; some of the Singhalese kings erected temples to the gods of the Hindus^, and the promoters of the Wytuhan heresy found a refuge from persecution amongst their sympathisers in the Dekkan.^ The Malabars, trained to arms, now resorted in such numbers to Ceylon, that the leaders in civil commotions were accustomed to hire them in bands to act a^'ainst the royal forces*; and whilst no precautions were adopted to check the landing of marauders on the coast, the invaders constructed forts throughout the country to protect their conquests from recapture by the natives. Proud of these successful expeditions, the native records of the Chola kings make mention of their victories ; and in one of their grants of land, engraved on copper, and still in existence, Viradeva-Chola, the sovereign by whom it was made, is described as having triumphed over "Madura, Izhani, Caruvar, and the crowned head of Pandyan ;" Izham, (or Ham) being the Tamil name of Ceylon.-'' On their expulsion by Dhatu Sena, he took possession of the fortresses and extirpated the Damilos ; degraded the Singhalese who liad intermarried with them ; confiscated their estates in favour of those who had remained true to his cause ; ^ Aniila, tlie queen of Ceylon, A d. 47, met with no opposition in raising one of her Malabar husbands to the throne. — Tukxoue's Epitome, p. 19. Sotthi Sena, who reigned a.d. 432, had a Damilo queen. ^ — Mahawanso, ch. xxxviii. p. 2.53. a supporter of the religion of Buddha, and a friend of the people." — Raja- ratnacari, p. 78. ^ 3Iahmvanso, ch. xxxrii. p. 234; TuENOtrK's Epitojue, p. 25. * Mahmoanso, ch. xxxvi. p. 228. ^ DowsoN, on the Chera Kingdom ^ SriSangaBoIII. a.d. 702, '^made of India. — Asiat. Journ. \(A. \m. p. a figure of the God Vishnu ; and was | 24. Chap. X.] TIIR DO.MINATIOX OF TIIK ^FAI.ABARS. ^99 and urgiiuised a naval force for the protection uf the a.d. coasts ^ of the island. ^l^- But his vigorous policy produced no permanent effect ; his son Mogallana, after the murder of his father and the usurpation of Kasyapa, tied for refuge to the coast of India, and subsequently recovered possession of the throne, by the aid of a force which he collected there.- In the succession of assassinations, conspkacies, and civil wars which distracted the kingdom in the sixth and seventh centuries, during the struggles of the rival branches of the royal house, each claimant, in his adver- sity, betook himself to the Indian continent, and Malabar mercenaries from Pandya and Soh em-olled themselves in- differently under any leader, and deposed or restored kings at their pleasure."^ The Rajavali^ in a single passage enumerates fourteen a.d. sovereigns who were mm'dered each by his successor, be- ^2^- tween a.d. 523, and a.d. 648. During a period of such violence and anarchy, peaceful industry was suspended, and extensive emigrations took place to Bahar and Orissa. Buddhism, however, was still predominant, and protection was accorded to its professors. Hiouen Thsang, a Chinese traveller, wno visited a.d. India between 629 a.d. and 645 '^, encountered nmn- 640. bers of exiles, who informed hun that they fled from ci\dl commotions in Ceylon, in which religion had undergone persecution, the king had lost his hfe, cidti- vation had been interrupted, and the island exhausted by famine. This account of the Chinese voyager accords accurately with the events detailed in the Sinolialese annals, in wliich it is stated that Sanoliatissa was dejDOsed and murdered, a.d. 623, by the Seneriwat, ^ 3Iahaicanso, cli. xxxviii. p. 2o6. | * Ilistoire de la Vie de Hiouen and xxxix. Turxour's MS., Trans. I TJisaiu/, et de ses Voycu/es dans FLide Tuuxour's Epitome, p. 29 ; Ra- jarali, p. 244. ^ Turnoitr's Epitome, p. .31. Ita- javali, p. 247. dcpiiis Van G20 Jasqu'en G43. Prt IIoEi-Ll et Yex-Thsaxg, 4'y'. Tra- ditife dit CJti/iois par Sxaxislaus JuLiEN, Paris, I80.3. 400 THE SINGHALESE CHRONICLES. [Part III. A.D. 640. his minister, who, amidst the liorrors of a general famine, was put to death by tlie people of Eohuna, and a civil war ensued ; one result of which was the defeat of the Malabar mercenaries and their distribution as slaves to the temples. Hiouen Thsang relates the particulars of his interviews with the fugitives, from whom he learned the extraordinary riches of Ceylon, the nimiber and wealth of its wiharas, the density of its population in peacefid times, the fertility of its soil, and the abundance of its produce.^ For nearly four hundred years, from the seventh till the eleventh century, the exploits and escapes of the Malabars occupy a more prominent portion of the Singhalese annals than that devoted to the pohcy of the native sovereigns. They filled every office, in- cluding that of prime minister''^, and they decided the claims of competing candidates for the crown. At length the island became so infested by their numbers that the feeble monarchs found it impracticable to effect their exclusion from Anarajapoora^ ; and to escape from their proximity, the kings in the eighth century began to move southwards, and transferred their residence to Pollanarrua, which eventually became the capital of the kingdom. Enormous tanks were constructed in the vicinity of the new capital ; palaces were erected, sur- passing those of the old city in architectural beauty ; dagobas were raised, nearly equal in altitude to the Thuparama and Euanwelh, and temples and statues were hewn out of the living rock, the magnitude and beauty of whose ruins attest the former splendom^ of Pollanarrua.^ ' " Ce royaume a sept mille li de tour, et sa capitale quarante li ; la population est agglomeree, et la terre produit des grains en abondance." — IIiouEisr-THSANG, liv. iv. p. 194. ^ Turnour's Epitome, p. 33. 3 Turnour's Ejntome, a.d. 086, p. 31. * The first king who built a palace at Pollanarrua was Sri Sanga Bo II., A.D. 642. His successor, Sri Sanga Bo III., took up his residence there temporarily, a.d. 702 ; it was made the capital by Kuda Akbo, A.D. 769, and its embellishment, the building of colleges, and the formation of tanks in its vicinity, were the occu- pations of numbers of his successors. Chap. X.] THE DOMINATION OF THE MALADARS. 401 Notwithstanding their numbers and their power, it is a.d. remarkable that the Malabars were never identified witli ^ any plan for promoting the prosperity and embeUishment of Ceylon, or with any undertaldng for the permanent im- provement of the island. Unhke the Gangetic race, who were the earliest colonists, and with whom originated every project for enriching and adoAiing the country, the Malabars aspired not to beautify or enrich, but to impo- verish and deface ; — and nothing can more strikingly bespeak the inferiority of the southern race than the single fact that everything tending to exalt and to civihse, in the early condition of Ceylon, was introduced by the northern conquerors, whilst all that contributed to ruin and debase it is distinctly traceable to the presence and influence of the Malabars. The Singhalese, either paralysed by di'ead, made feeble efforts to rid themselves of the invaders ; or fascinated by their military pomp, endeavoured to concihate them by alliances. Thus, when the king of Pandya over-ran the a.d. north of Ceylon, a.d. 840, plundered the capital and ^^^• despoiled its temples, the unhappy sovereign had no other resource than to purchase the evacuation of the island by a heavy ransom.^ Yet such was the influence still exer- cised by the Malabars, that within a very few years his successor on the throne lent his aid to the son of the same king of Pandya in a war against his father, and conducted the expedition in person."'^ His army was, in all proba- bihty, composed chiefly of Daixiilos, with whom he over- ran the south of the Indian peninsula, and avenged the outrage inflicted on his own kingdom in the late reign by bearing back the plunder of Madura. This exploit served to promote a more intimate inter- course between the two races, and after the lapse of a ^ TtTKiiroxTR's Epitome, p. 35 j Ra- \ ^ a.d. 858 ; Rajaratnacari, p. 84. '.ratnacari, p. 79. | VOL. I. D D 402 THE SINGHALESE CHRONICLES. [Pakt III. A.D. century, a.d. 954, the Idiig of Ceylon a second time in- ^'^^' terposed with an army to aid the Pandyan sovereign in a quarrel with his neighbour of Chola, wherein the former was worsted, and forced to seek a refuge in the territory of his insular ally, whence he was ultimately expelled for conspiracy against his benefactor. Having fled to India without his regaha, his Cholian rival made the refusal of the king of Ceylon to surrender them the pretext for a fresh Malabar invasion, a.d. 990, when the enemy was repulsed by the mountaineers of Eohuna, who, from the earhest period down to the present day, have evinced uniform impatience of strangers, and steady determination to resist their encroachments. But such had been the influx of foreigners, that the eff"orts of these highland patriots were powerless against A.n. their numbers. Mahindo III., a.d. 997, married a 9U7. princess of Calinga \ and in a civil war which ensued, during the reign of his son and successor, the novel spectacle was presented of a Malabar army supporting the cause of the royal family against Singhalese insur- gents. The island was now reduced to the extreme of anarchy and insecurity ; " the foreign population " had increased to such an extent as to gain a complete ascen- dency over the native inhabitants, and the sovereign had lost authority over both,^ A.D. In A.D. 1023, the Cholians again invaded Ceylon^, carried the king captive to the coast of India (where he died in exile), and established a Malabar viceroy at Pollanarrua, who held possession of the island for nearly thirty years, protected in his usurpation by a foreign army. Thus, " throughout the reign of nineteen kings," says the Bajaratnacari, " extending over eighty-six years, the Malabars kept up a continual Avar with tlie Singlia- lese, till they filled by degrees every village in the island." ^ 1023. ' Now tlie Nortliern Circars. I ^ In the reign of Maliindo IV. 2 Ttjenour's Eintomc, p! 37. | '' Rajaratnacari, p. 85. CiiAi>. X.] THE DOMIXATIOX OF THE ilALABARS. 403 Dm^fTig the absence of the rightful sovereign, and in a.d. the confusion which ensued on his decease, various mem- ^^'^^ bers of the royal family arrived at the sovereignty of llohuna, the only remnant of free territory left. Four brothers, each assinning the title of Idng, contended together for supremacy ; and amidst anarchy and intrigue, each in turn took up the reins of government, as they fell or were snatched from the hands of his predeces- sor ^, till at length, on the retirement of all other can- didates, the forlorn crown was assumed by the minister Lokaiswara, who held his court at Kattragam, and died A.D. io7i;^ ^ Turnouk's Eintome, p. 39. ^ 3Iahmvanso, cli. Ixi. D D 2 404 THE SINGHALESE CHRONICLES. [Part III. CHAP XI. THE EEIGN OF PEAKRAMA BAHU. A.D. From the midst of this gloom and despondency, with ^^'^^- usurpation successful in the only province where even a semblance of patriotism survived, and a foreign enemy universally dominant thronghout the rest of Ceylon, there suddenly arose a dynasty which dehvered the island from the sway of the Malabars, brought back its ancient wealth and tranquiUity, and for the space of a century made it pre-eminently prosperous at home and victorious in expeditions by which its rulers rendered it respected abroad. The founder of this new and vigorous race was a member of the exiled family, who, on the death of Lokaiswara, was raised to the throne under the title of Wijayo Bahu.^ Dissatisfied with the narrow hmits of Eohuna, he resolved on rescuing Pihiti from the usurp- ing strangers ; and, by the courage and loyalty of his mountaineers, he recovered the ancient capitals from the Malabars, compelled the whole extent of the island to acknowledge his authority, reunited the several king- doms of Ceylon under one national banner, and, "for the security of Lanka against foreign invasion, placed trustworthy chiefs at the head of paid troops, and stationed them round the coast." ^ Thus signaUy suc- cessful at home, the fame of his exploits " extended * A.D. 1071. I ratnacari, p. 58 ; Rajnvali, p. 251 ; 2 Mahawanso, cli. lix. ; Raja- \ Turnouk's Eintome, p. 39. Chaf. XL] THE REIGX OF PRAKEA3IA BAIIU. 405 over all Dainbadiva \ and ambassadors arrived at his court from the sovereigns of India and Siam." As he died without heirs a contest arose about the a.d. succession, which threatened again to dissever the unity 1126. of the kingdom by arrapng Eohuna and the south against the brother of Wijayo Bahu, who had gained possession of Pollanarrua. But in this emergency the pretensions of all other claimants to the crown Avere overruled in favour of Prakrama, a prince of accomphsh- ments and energy so unrivalled as to secure for him the partiahty of his kindred and the admiration of the people at large. He was son to the youngest of four brothers who had recently contended together for the crown, and his am- bition from childhood had been to rescue his country from foreign dominion, and consohdate the monarchy in his own person. He completed by foreign travel an education which, according to the Mahawanso, comprised every science and accomphshment of the age in which he hved, including theology, medicine, and logic ; grammar, poetry, and music ; the training of the elephant and the management of the horse.^ On the death of his father he was proclaimed king by the people, and a summons was addressed by him to his surviving uncle, calhng on him to resign in his favour and pay allegiance to his supremacy. As the feeling of the nation was with him, the issue of a civil war left him master of Ceylon. He celebrated his coronation as King of Pihiti at Pollanarrua, a.d. 1153, and two years later, a.d. after reducing the refractory chiefs of Eohuna to obe- H^'^- dience, he repeated the ceremonial by crowning himself " sole King of Lanka." ^ There is no name in Singhalese history which holds the same rank in the admiration of the people as that of Prakrama Bahu, since to the piety of Devenipiatissa he united the chivahy of Dutugaimunu. 1 India Proper. ^ Mahawanso, cli. Ixiv. ^ 3Ialiaivanso, cli. Ixxi, D D 3 40G THE SINGHALESE CHRONICLES. [Paet III. A.D. 1155. The tranquillity insured by the independence and con- sohdation of his dominions he rendered subservient to the restoration of rehgion; the enrichment of his subjects, and the embelhshment of the ancient capitals of his king- dom ; and, ill-satisfied with the inglorious ease which had contented his predecessors, he aspired to combine the renown of foreign conquests with the triumphs of domestic policy. Faithful to the two grand objects of royal sohcitude, religion and agriculture, the earliest attention of Pra- krama was directed to the re-establishment of the one, and the encouragement and extension of the other. He rebuilt the temples of Buddha, restored the monuments of rehgion in more than their pristine splendour, and covered the face of the kingdom with works for irriga- tion to an extent which would seem incredible did not their existing ruins corroborate the historical narrative of his stupendous labours. Such had been the ostensible decay of Buddhism during the Malabar domination that, when the kingdom was recovered from them by Wijayo Bahu, a.d. 1071, " there was not to be found in the whole island five tirunansis," and an embassy was sent to Arramana^ to request 'that members of this superior rank of the priest- hood might be sent to restore the order m Ceylon.^ ^ A part of the Chin-Indian pen- insula^ probably between Arracan and Siani. ^ Rqjarntnacari, p. 85 ; RaJavaU, p. 262 ; Ilahawanso, ch. Ix. From the identity of the national faith in the two coimtries, inter- course existed between Siam and Ceylon from time immemorial. At a very early period missions were interchanged for the inter-commu- nication of Pali literature, and in later times, when, owing- to the oppres- sion of the Malabars certain orders of the priesthood had become extinct in Ceylon, it became essential to seek a renewal of ordination at the hands of the Siamese heivarchy (Hajanifna- cari, p. 8G). In the mimerous incur- sions of the Malabars from Chola and Pandya, the literary treasures of Ceylen were deliberately destroyed, and the Blahmuanso and Rajavali, make frequent lamentations over the loss of the sacred books. (See also Rajaratnacan, pp. 77, 95, 97.) At a still later period the savage Eaja Sing-ha, who reigned between A.D. 1581 and 1592, and became a con- vert to Bralimanism, sought eagerly for Buddhistical books, and " de- lighted in burning them in heaps as high as a coco-nut tree." These losses it was sought to repair by an embassy to Siam, sent by Kirti-Sri in A.D. 1753. when a copious supply was obtained of Burmese versions of Pali sacred literature. Cii.vr. XI.] THE REIGN OF PRAKRAMA BAIIU. 407 During the same troublous times, schisms and lieresy a.t>. had combined to undermine the national behef, and ■^^^^• hence one of the first cares of Prakrama Bahu was to weed out the perverted sects, and estabhsh a council for the settlement of the faith on debatable points.^ Dagobas and statues of Buddha Avere multiplied with- out end during his reign, and temples of every form were erected both at Pollanarrua and throuo-hout the breadth of the island. Halls for the reading of bana, image rooms, residences for the priesthood, ambulance halls and rest houses for their accommodation when on journeys, were built in every district, and rocks were hollowed into temples ; one of which, at Pollanarrua, remains to the present day with its images of Buddha ; " one in a sitting and another in a lying posture," almost as de- scribed in the Mahawanso.^ In conformity with the spuit of toleration, which is one of the characteristics of Buddhism, the king " erected a house for the Brahmans of the capital to afford the com- forts of reho'ion even to his Malabar enemies." And o mindfid of the divine injunctions engraven on the rock by King Asoca, " he forbade the animals in the whole of Lanka, both of the earth and the water, to be killed," ^ and planted gardens, " resembhng the parachse of the God-King Sakkraia, with trees of all sorts bearing fruits ' and odorous flowers." For the people the king erected ahnonries at the four gates of the capital, and hospitals, with slave boys and ^ Mahawanso, ch. Ixxyii. ^ 3Iahaicanso, cli. Ixxii. For a description of this temple see tlie ac- count of Pollanarrua in the present work, Vol. II. Pt. X. ch. i. 2 Mahawanso, ch. Ixxvii. Among the religious edifices cousti-ucted by I'rakrama Bahu in many parts of his kingdom, the MahauKtnso, enumerates tliree temples at Pollanarrua, besides others at every two or three gows distance ; 101 dagobas, 47G statues of Buddha, and 300 image rooms built, besides 6100 repaired. He built for the reception of priests from a distance, '^ 230 lodging apartments, 50 halls for preaching, and 9 for walking, 144 gates, and 192 rooms for the purpose of ofl'ering flowers. He built 12 apartments and 230 halls for the use of strangers, and 31 rock temples, with tanks, baths, and gar- dens for the prie.sthood." D D 4 408 THE SINGHALESE CHRONICLES. [Part III. A.T). maidens to wait upon the sick, superintending tliem in 1155. person, and bringing his medical knowledge to assist in their direction and management. Even now the ruins of Pollanarrua, the most pictu- resque in Ceylon, attest the care which he lavished on his capital. He surrounded it with ramparts, raised a fortress within them, and built a palace for his own residence, containing four thousand apartments. He founded schools and libraries ; l:)uilt halls for music and dancing ; formed tanks for pubhc baths ; opened streets, and surrounded the whole city Avith a wall which, if we are to credit the native chronicles, en- closed an area twelve miles broad by nearly tlmty in length. By his liberality, Eohuna and Piliiti were equally em- beUished ; the buildings of Vigittapura and Sigiii were renewed ; and the ancient edifices at Anarajapoora were restored, and its temples and palaces repaired, imder the personal superintendence of his minister. It is worthy of remark that so greatly had the constructive arts declined, even at that period, in Ceylon, that the king had to "bring Damilo artificers" from the opposite coast of India to repair the structures at his capital.^ The details preserved in the Singhalese chronicles as to the works for irrigation which he formed or restored, afford an idea of the prodigious encouragement bestowed upon agriculture in this reign, as well as of the extent to which the rule of the Malabars had retarded the pro- gress and destroyed the earher traces of civilisation. Fourteen hundred and seventy tanks were constructed by the king in various parts of the island, three of them of such vast dimensions that they were known as the " Seas of Prakrama ; " '^ and in addition to these, three hundred others were formed by him for the special benefit of the priests. The " Great Lakes " which he repaired, as specified in tlie Mahawanso, amount to ' Mdhaivanso, ch. Ixxv. Ixxvii. | ^ Rajaratnacari, p. 88. CiiAr. XL] THE REIGN OF PRAKRAMA BAIIU. 409 tliirteeii liuiidred and ninety-five, and the smaller ones a.d. which he restored or enlarged to nine hundi-ed and ^^^^• sixty. Besides these, he made five hundred and thu-ty- foiir watercoiu'ses and canals, by damming up the rivers, and repaired three thousand six hundred and twenty- one.^ The bare enumeration of such labours conveys an idea of the prodigious extent to wliich structm'es of this kind had been multiplied by the early kings ; and we are enabled to form an estimate of the activity of agriculture in the twelfth century, and the vast popula- tion whose wants it supphed, by the thousands of reser- Yoiis still partially used, though in ruins; and the still greater number now dry and deserted, and concealed by dense jungle, in districts once waving Avith yellow grain. Such was the internal tranquillity which, under his rule, pervaded Ceylon, that an inscription, engraved by one of his successors, on the rock of Dambool, after describing the general peace and " security which he established, as well in the wilderness as in the inhabited places," records that, " even a woman might traverse the island with a precious Jewel and not be asked what it was." ^ In the midst of these congenial operations the energetic king had command of military resoiu-ces, sufficient not The useful ambition of signalising I dug and repaired; and si.vty-six tlieir reigTi by the construction of j canals : whereby a gi-eat deal of rice works of irrigation, is still exhibited by the Buddhist sovereigTis of the East ; and the king of Burniah in his interview with the British envoy in 1855, advanced his exploits of this natiu-e as his highest claim to distinc- tion. The conversation is thus re- ported in Yule's Narrative of the Ilissiun. London, 1858. " KiiH/. Have you seen any of the royal tanks at Oung-ben-le', which have recently been constructed ? " Envoy. I have not been yet, your Majesty, but I purpose going. " King. I have caused ninefi/-nine tanks and ancient reservoirs to be land will be available. * * * In the reign of Naiu-aba-dzyar 9999 tanks and canals were constructed : I pm-pose renewing them." — P. 109. 2 Moore's melody, beginning " Rich and rare were the gems she wore," was foimded on a parallel figiu-e illustrative of the secm-ity of Ireland under the rule of Iving Brien ; when, according to Warner, " a maiden imdertook a journey alone, from one extremity of the kingdom to another, with only a wand in lier hand, at the top of which was a ring of exceeding great value." 410 THE SINGHALESE CHRONICLES. [Part III. A.D. 1155. only to repress revolt within liis own dominions, but also to cany war into distant countries, which had offered him insult or inflicted injury on his subjects. His first foreign expedition was fitted out to chastise the king of Cambodia and Arramana ^ in the Siamese peninsula, who had plundered merchants from Ceylon, visiting those countries to trade in elephants ; he had likewise intercepted a vessel which was carrying some Singhalese princesses, had outraged Prakrama's ambas- sador, and had dismissed him mutilated and maimed. A fleet sailed on this service in the sixteenth year of Pra- krama's reign, he effected a landing in Arramana, van- quished the king, and obtained full satisfaction.^ He next directed his arms against the Pandyan king, for the coimtenance which that prince had uniformly given to the Malabar mvaders of the island. He reduced Pandya and Chola, rendered their sovereigns his tributaries, and having founded a city within the territory of the latter, and coined money in his own name, he returned in triumph to Ceylon.^ "Thus," says the Mahawanso^ "was the whole island of Lanka improved and beautified by this Mng, whose majesty is famous in the annals of good deeds, who was faithful in the rehgion of Buddha, and whose fame ex- tended abroad as the light of the moon." ^ " Having departed this Hfe," adds the author of the Bajavali, " he was found on a silver rock in the wilderness of the Himalaya, where are eighty-four thousand mountains of gold, and where he mil reign as a king as long as the world endures." ^ ^ See ante, p. 406, n. ^ Ttjrnotjr's Eintome, p. 41 ; 3Ia- hawanso, Ixxiv. ; Ritjaratnacari, p. 87 ; Bajavali, p. 254. 2 Mahawanso, ch. Ixxvi. I am not aware whetlier the Tamil historians have chronicled this remarkable ex- pedition, and the conquest of this portion of the Dekkan by the king of Ceylon ; but in the catalogue of the Kings appended by Prof. Wilson to his Historical Sketch of Pandya (Asiat. Journ. vol. iii. p. 201) the name of "PracramaBaghu " occurs as the sixty-fifth in the list of sovereigns of that state. For an accomit of Dipal- denia, where he probably coined his Indian money, see Asiat, Soc. Journ, Bengal, v. vi. pp. 218, 301. 4 Malunvanso, ch. Ixxviii. ^ Bajaratnacari, p. 91. 411 CHAT. XII. FATE OF THE SIXGIIALESE MONARCHY. —ARRIVAL OF THE PORTUGUESE, A.D, 1501. The reign of Pralo-ama Balm, the most glorious in tlie a.d. annals of Ceylon, is the last which has any pretension to ^''^^^' renown. His family were unequal to sustain or extend the honours he had won, and his nephew \ a pious voluptuary, by whom he was succeeded, was killed in a.d. an intrigue with the daughter of a herdsman whilst ^^'^^• awaiting the result of an appeal to the Buddliist sove- reign of Arramana to aid him in reforming religion. His murderer, whom he had pre\'iously nominated his successor, himself fell by assassination. An heir to the ^{gj^ throne was discovered amon2;st the Sino-halese exiles on the coast of India ^, but death soon ended his brief reign. 1199. His brother and his nephew in turn assumed the crown ; both were despatched by the Adigar, wdio, having alhed ^•^• himself wdth the royal family by marrying the widow of the great Prakrama, contrived to place her on the throne, under the title of Queen Leela-Wattee, a.d. 1197. With- a.d. in less than three years she was deposed by an usurper, and he being speedily put to flight, another queen, Kalyana-Wattee, was placed at the head of the kingdom, a.d. The next ill-fated sovereign, a baby of three months ^~*^^' ^ ^"ij'iyo Balm II., killed by I ^ xirti Nissanga, brought fi-om Mihiudo, a.d. 1187. j Caliiiga, a.d. 1192. 412 THE SINGHALESE CHKONICLES. [Part III. A.D. old, was speedily set aside by means of a hired 1202. force, and the first queen, Leela-Wattee, restored to the throne. But the same band who had eflfected a revolution hi her favour were prompt to repeat the exploit ; she was a second time deposed, and a third time recaUed by the intervention of foreign merce- naries.^ A.D. Within thh-ty years from the decease of Prakrama ^'^^^- Bahu, the kingdom was reduced to such an extremity of weakness by contentions amongst the royal family, and by the excesses of their partisans, that the vigilant Malabars seized the opportunity to land with an army of 24,000 men, reconquered the whole of the island, and Magha, their leader, became Idng of Ceylon a.d. 1211.2 The adventurers who invaded Ceylon on this occasion came not from Chola or Pandya, as before, but from Calinga, that portion of the Dekkan which now forms the Northern Circars. Their domination was marked by more than ordinary cruelty, and the Mahawanso and Bajaratnacari describe with painful elaboration the extinction of Buddhism, the overthrow of temples, the ruin of dagobas, the expulsion of priests, and the occu- pation of their dwelhngs by Damilos, the outrage of castes, the violation of property, and the torture of its possessors to extract the disclosure of their treasures, " till the whole island resembled a dwelhng in flames or a house darkened by funeral rites." ^ On all former occasions Eohuna and the South had been comparatively free from the actual presence of the enemy, but in this instance they estabhshed themselves ^ Of the very rare examples now extant of Singhalese coins, one of the most remarkable bears the name of Leela-Wattee. — Numismatic Chron i- cle, 185.3. Pajjers on some Coins of Ceylon, hy'V\\ S. W. Vaux,^*-^., p. 12G. ^ Rq/avali, p. 256. * llahawanso, ch. Ixxix. ; Raja- ratnacari, p. 93 j Rajavali, p. 250. CiiAP. XII.] FATE OF THE SINGHALESE MONARCHY. 413 at Maliagam ^, and tlience to Jaffiiapatam, every pro- a.d. vince in the island was brought under subjection to their l-ll- rule. The peninsula of Jaffna and the extremity of the island north of Adam's Bridge, owing to its proximity to the Lidian coast, was at all times the district most infested by the Malabars. Jambukola, the modern Colombogam, is the port which is rendered memorable in the Maha- icanso by the departure of embassies and the arrival of rehcs from the Buddliist countries, and Mantotte, to the north of Manaar, was the landing place of the innumer- able expeditions which sailed from Chola and Pandya for the subjugation of Ceylon. The Tamils have a tradition that, prior to the Christian era, Jaffna was colonised by Malabars, and that a Chohan prince assumed the government, a.d. 101, — a date wliicli corresponds closely with the second Malabar invasion recorded in the Maliawanso. Thence they extended then* authority over the adjacent country of the Wanny, as far south as Mantotte and Manaar, " fortified their frontiers and stationed wardens and watchers to protect them- selves from invasion." ^ The successive bands of ma- rauders arriving from the coast had thus on every occasion a base for operations, and a strong force of sympa- thisers to cover their landing ; and from the inability of the Singhalese to offer an effectual resistance, those portions of the island were from a very early period practically abandoned to the Malabars, whose de- scendants at the present day form the great bulk of its population. After an interval of twenty years, Wijayo Bahu III., a.d. a.d. 1235, collected as many Singhalese followers as enabled ^^^^' him to recover a portion of the kingdom, and estabhsli himself in Maya, within which he built a capital at Jam- budronha or Dambedema, fifty miles to the north of the 1 Sq/avaU, 257. ^ See a paper on tlie early History of Jaflfiia by S. Casie' Chitty, Jow/ud of the Royal Asiat. Soviet ij of Ceylon, i8-47, p. QS. 414 THE SINGHALESE CHROXICLES. [Part III. A.D. 1235. A.D. 1266. A.D. 1303. present Colombo. The Malabars still retained possession of Pihiti, and defended tlieir frontier by a line of forts drawn across the island from Pollanarrua to Ooroototta on the western coast.* Thirty years later Pandita Prakrama Bahu III., A.D. 1266, effected a fmlher dislodgment of the enemy in the north ; but Ceylon, which possessed " The fatal gift of beauty, that became A funeral dower of present woes and past," was destined never a^ain to be free from the evils of foreii^n invasion ; a new race of maraudei-s from the Malayan peninsula were her next assailants '^ ; and these were fol- lowed at no very long interval by a fresh expedition from the coast of India. ^ Having learned by experience the exposure and inse- curity of the successive capitals, which had been built by former sovereigns in the low lands, this king founded the city of Kandy, then called Siriwardanapuni,, amongst the mountains of Maya'*, to which he removed the sacred dalada, and the other treasures of the crown. But such precautions came too late : to use the simile of the native historian, they were " fencing the field whilst the oxen were within engaged in devouring the corn."^ The power of the Malabars had become so firmly rooted, and had so irresistibly extended itself, that, one after another, each of the earher capitals was abandoned to them, and the seat of government car- ried further towards the south. Pollanarrua had risen into importance in the eighth and ninth centuries, when Anarajapoora was found to be no longer tenable against the strangers. Dambedenia was next adopted, A.D. 1235, as a retreat from Pollanarrua ; and this being deemed insecure, was exchanged, a.d. 1303, for Yapahu in the Seven Corles. Here the Pandyan marauders ^ Mahawanm, ch. Ixxx. Ixxxii.; Ma- jaratnacari, pp.n4,9o ; Jiq/avnii, p. 258. ^ 7?rt/r«t'fl//, pp. 256, 260. A second Malay landiii;^' i.s recorded in the reign of Prakrama III., a.d. 1267. ^ Ilaliawanso, ch. Ixxxii. * Rdjaratnacan, p. 104 ; Malia- ivanso, ch. Ixxxiii. * Ri(jarafnacari, p. 82. A.D. UIO. Chap. XII.] FATE OF THE SIXGIIALESE MOXARCHY. 415 followed in the rear of the retreating sovereign ^, surprised the new capital, and carried off the dalada ' rehc to the coast of India. After its recovery Ya- pahu was deserted, a.d. 1319. Kornegalle or Kiuamai- a.d. galla, then called Hastisailapoora and Gampola^, still fiu-ther to the south and more deeply intrenched amongst the Kandyan mountains, were successively chosen for the royal residence, a.d. 1317. Thence the ,^'47 uneasy seat of government was carried to Peradenia, close by Kandy, and its latest migration, a.d. 1410, was to Jaya-wardana-pura, the modern Cotta, a few miles east of Colombo. t Such frequent removals are evidences of the alarm and despondency excited by the forays and encroachments of the Malabars, who from their stronghold at Jaffna exercised undisputed dominion over the northern coasts on both sides of the island, and, secure in the possession of the tAvo ancient capitals, Anarajapoora and Pollanarrua, spread over the rich and productive plains of the north. To the present hom* the population of the island retains the permanent traces of this ahen occupation of the ancient kingdom of Pihiti. The language of the north of the island, from Chilaw on the west coast to Batticaloa on the east, is chiefly, and in the majority of localities exclusively, Tamil ; whilst to the south of the Dedera- oya and the Mahawelh-ganga, in the ancient di\TLsions of Eoliuua and Maya, the vernacular is uniformly Sin- ghalese. Occasionally, after long periods of inaction, collisions took place ; or the Singhalese kings equipped expeditions against the north ; but the contest was unequal ; and in s})ite of casual successes, " the king of the Ceylonese Ma- labars," as he is styled in the Raj avail, held his court at Jaffnapatam, and collected tribute from both the liigh and ' A.D. 1303. nacari to have been built by one of ^ Gampola or Gani-pala, Cuiir/a sin'jmra, "the beautiful city near the river," is said in the Rajarat- the brothers-in-law of Panduwaasa, B.C. 504:. 416 THE SIXGIIALESE CIIEONICLES. [Part III. A.D. 1410. the low countries, whilst the south of the island was sub- divided into a variety of petty Idngdoms, the chiefs of which, at Yapahu, at Kandy, at Gampola, at Matura, Mahagam, Matelle, and other places \ acknowledged the nominal supremacy of the sovereign at Cotta, with whom, however, they were necessarily involved in territorial quarrels, and in hostihties provoked by the withholding of tribute. It was during this period that an event occurred, which is obscurely aUuded to in some of the Singhalese chronicles, but is recorded with such minute details in several of the Chinese historical works, as to afford a reliable illustration of the condition of the island and its monarchy in the fifteenth century. Prior to that time the community of rehgion between Ceylon and China, and the eagerness of the latter country to extend its commerce, led to the estabhshment of an intercourse wliich has been elsewhere described ^ ; missions were constantly despatched charged with an interchange of courtesies between their sovereigns ; theologians and officers of state arrived in Ceylon empowered to col- lect information regarding the doctrines of Buddha ; and envoys were sent in return bearing royal donations of relics and sacred books. The Singhalese monarchs, overawed by the magnitude of the imperial power, were induced to avow towards China a sense of dependency approaching to homage ; and the gifts which they offered are all recorded in the Chinese annals as so many " pay- ments of tribute." At length, in the year 1405 a.d.^, ^ Rqjavali, p. 263 ; 3Iahmvanso, ch. Ixxxvii. '^ See Part v. cli. iii. ^ The narrative in tlie text is ex- tracted from the Ta-tswg-yi-tum/, a " Topographical Account of the Manchoo Empire," wi-itten in the seventeenth century, to a copy of which, in the P>ritish Museum, wry attention was directed by the eru- dite Chinese scholar, Mr. Meadows, author of " The Chinese and their RehelUons.''^ The story of this Chinese expedition to Ceylon will also be found in the Sc-yih-ke-foo- choo, "A Description of Western Countries," a.d. 1450 ; the Woo heo- 2KCU, " A Record of tlie Ming Dynas- ty," A.D. 1522, b. Iviii. p. 3, and in the Mim/slie, '^A History of the Ming Dynasty," a.d. 1739, cccxxvi. p. 2. For a further account of this event see Part v. of this work^ ch. iii. CiiAi'. XIL] FATE OF THE SINGHALESE MONARCHY. 417 dming the reign of the emperor Yung-lo ^ of tlie Ming a.d. dynasty, a celebrated Chinese commander, Ching-Ho, I'ii*^- having visited Ceylon as the bearer of incense and offermgs, to be deposited at the shrine of Buddha, was waylaid, together with his followers, by the Singhalese king, Wijayo Balm VI., and mth difficulty effected an escape to his ships. To revenge this treacherous affront Ching-Ho was despatched a few years afterwards with a considerable fleet and a formidable mihtary force, which the king (whom the Chinese historian calls A-lee-ko-nae-wih) prepared to resist ; but by a vigorous effort Ho and his followers succeeded in seizing the capital, and bore off the sovereign, together with his family, as prisoners to China. He presented them to the emperor, who, out of compassion, ordered them to be sent back to their country on the condition that " the wisest of the family should be chosen king." " Seay-pa-nea-na " ^ was accordingly elected, and this choice being confirmed, he was sent to his native coun- try, duly pro\'ided with a seal of investiture, as a vassal of the empu'e under the style of Sri Prakrama Bahu VI., — and from that period till the reign of Teen-shim, a.d. 1434 — 1448, Ceylon continued to pay an annual tribute to China. From the beginning of the loth century to the ex- tinction of the Singhalese dynasty in the 18th, the island cannot be said to have been ever entirely freed from the presence of the Malabars. Even when temporarily sub- dued, they remained with forced professions of loyalty ; Damilo soldiers were taken into pay by the Singhalese sovereigns ; the dewales of the Hindu worship were built in close contiguity to the wiharas of Buddhism, and by frequent intermarriages the royal line was almost as closely aUied to the kings of Chola and Pandya as to the blood of the Suluwanse.^ ' The Minq-she calls the Emperor '^Chino--tsoo'." ^ So called in the Chinese ori- ginal. 3 Rajavali,'p.2Q\,^m. In a.d. 1187 on the death of MahindoV ., the second in snccession from the great Prak- rama, the crown devolved npon Kirti VOL. I. !•: ]■: 418 THE SINGHALESE CHRONICLES. [Part III. A.D. 1505. It was in this state of exhaustion, that the Singhalese were brought into contact with Europeans, during the reign of Dharma Prakrama IX., when the Portuguese, who had recently estabhshed themselves in India, appeared for the first time in Ceylon, a.d. 1505. The paramount sovereign was then living at Cotta ; and the Rajavali re- cords the event in the followdnsi; terms : — "And now it came to pass that in the Christian year 1522 a.d., in the month of April, a ship from Portugal arrived atColombo, and information was brought to the king, that there were in the harbour a race of very white and beautiful people, who wear boots and hats of iron, and never stop in one place. They eat a sort of white stone, and drink blood ; and if they get a fish they give two or three iHde in gold for it ; and besides, they have guns with a noise louder than thunder, and a ball shot from one of them, after tra- versing a league, will break a castle of marble." ^ Before proceeding to recount the intercourse of the islanders with these civilised visitors, and the grave re- sults which foUowed, it wiU be well to cast a glance over the condition of the people during the period which pre- ceded, and to cull from the native historians such notices of their domestic and social position as occur in passages intended by the Singhalese annahsts to chronicle only those events which influenced the national worship, or the exploits of those royal personages, who earned immortahty by their protection of Buddhism. Nissanga, who was siinimoned from Calinga on the Coroinandel Coast. On the extinction of the recognised line of Suhnvanse in a.d. 1700, a prince from Madura, who was merely a connection by marriage, succeeded to the throne. The King Raj a Singha, who detained Knox in captivity, a.d. 1640, was manied to a INIalabar prin- cess. In fixct, the four last kings of Ceylon, prior to its surrender to Great Britain, were pure Malabars, without a trace of Singhalese blood. ^ Rajavali, UrnAM's version, p. 278. PART IV. SCIENCES AND SOCIAL ARTS THE ANCIENT SINGHALESE £ £ 2 421 CHAPTER I. POPULATION. — CASTE. — SLAVERY AND EAJA-KARIYA. Population. — In no single instance do the chronicles of Ceylon mention the precise amount of the population of the island, at any particular period ; but there is a suffi- ciency of evidence, both historical and physical, to show that it must have been prodigious and dense, especially in the reigns of the more prosperous kings. Whatever limits to the increase of man artificial wants may interpose in a civilised state and in ordinary chmates are unknown in a tropical region, where clothing is an encumbrance, the smallest shelter a home, and sustenance supplied by the bounty of the soil in almost spontaneous abundance. Under such propitious ckcumstances, in the midst of a profusion of frmt-bearing-trees, and in a country reple- nished by a teeming harvest twice, at least, in each year, with the least possible application of labour ; it may readily be conceived that the number of the people will be adjusted mainly, if not entirely, by the extent of arable land. The emotion of the traveller of the present time, as day after day he traverses the northern portions of the island, and penetrates the deep forests of the interior, is one of unceasing astonishment at the inconceivable multitude of deserted tanks, the hollows of which are still to be traced ; and the innumerable embankments, overgrown with tim- ber, which indicate the sites of vast reservoirs that for- merly fertihsed districts now solitary and barren. Every such tank is the landmark of one village at least, and such are the dimensions of some of them that in propor- ee3 422 SCIENCES AND SOCIAL AKTS. [Part IV. tion to their area, it is probable that hundreds of villages may have been supported by a single one of these great inland lakes. The labour necessary to construct one of these gigan- tic works for irrigation is in itself an evidence of local density of population ; but thek multiphcation by suc- cessive kings, and the constantly recurring record of district after district brought under cultivation in each successive reign ^ , demonstrate the steady increase of inhabitants, and the midtitude of husbandmen whose combined and sustained toil was indispensable to keep these prodigious structures in productive activity. The Rajavali relates that in the year 1301 a.d. King Prakrama III., on the eve of his death, reminded his sons, that having conquered the Malabars, he had united under one rule the three kingdoms of the island, Pihiti with 450,000 villages, Eohuna with 770,000, and Maya with 250,000.^ A village in Ceylon, it must be observed, resembles a " town " in the phraseology of Scotland, where the smallest collection of houses, or even a single farmstead with its buildings is enough to justify the appellation. In the same manner, according to the sacred ordinances wliich regulate the conduct of the Buddhist priesthood, a "sohtary house, if there be people, must be regarded as a village," ^ and all beyond it is the forest. Even assuming that the figures employed by the author of the Rajavali partake of the exaggeration ^ The practice of recording the foi'ination of tanks for irrigation by the sovereigTi is not confined to the chronicles of Ceylon. The construc- tion of similar works on the continent of India has been commemorated in the same manner by the native histo- rians. The memoirs of the Rajas of Orissa show the number of tanks made and wells dug in every reign. * Rajavali. p. 2G2. A centuiy later in the reign of Prakrama-Kotta, a.d. 1410, the Rajaratnacari says, there then were 256,000 villages in the province of Matura, 495,000 in that ot Jaffiia, and 790,000 in Oovah.— P. 112. 3 Hardy's Eastern Monachism, ch, xiii. p. 133. CuAr. I.] rorULATION. 423 common to all oriental narratives, no one wlio has visited the regions now silent and deserted, once the homes of millions, can hesitate to beheve that when the island was in the zenith of its prosperity, the population of Ceylon must of necessity have been at least ten times as great as it is at the present day. The same train of thought leads to a clearer concep- tion of the means by which this dense population was preserved, through so many centuries, in spite of frequent revolutions and often recurring invasions ; as well as of the causes which led to its ultimate disappearance, when intestine decay had wasted the organisation on which the fabric of society rested. Cultivation, as it existed in the north of Ceylon, was almost entirely dependent on the store of water pre- served in each village tank ; and it could only be carried on by the combined labour of the whole local com- munity, applied in the first instance to collect and secure the requisite supply for irrigation, and after- wards to distribute it to the rice lands, which were tilled by the united exertions of the inhabitants, amongst whom the crop was divided in due proportions. So in- dispensable were concord and union in such operations, that injunctions for their maintenance were sometimes engraven on the rocks, as an inperishable exhortation to forbearance and harmony.^ Hence, in the recurring convulsions which overthrew successive djmasties, and transferred the crown to usurpers, with a facile rapidity, otherwise almost unintelhgible, it is easy to comprehend that the mass of the people had the strongest possible motives for passive sub- mission, and were constrained to acquiescence by an instinctive dread of the fatal effects of prolonged com- ^ See tlie inscription on the rock of Miliintala, a.d. 2G2, Ttjenour's Epi- fome. Appendix^ p. 90 ; and a similar E E 4 one on a rock at Pollanarrua; ibid, p. 92. 424 SCIENCES AND SOCIAL ARTS. [Paut IV. motion. If interrupted in their industry, by the dread of such events, they retired till the storm had blown over, and returned, after each temporary disper- sion, to resume possession of the lands and their viUage tank. The desolation which now reigns over the plains which the Singhalese formerly tilled, was precipitated by the reckless domination of the Malabars, in the four- teenth and following centin-ies. The destruction of reservoirs and tanks has been ascribed to defective con- struction, and to the absence of spill-waters, and other facihties for discharging the surplus-water, during the prevalence of excessive rains ; but independently of the fact that vast numbers of these tanks, though utterly deserted, remain, in this respect, almost uninjured to the present day, we have the evidence of their own native historians, that for upwards of fifteen centuries, the reservoirs, when duly attended to, successfuUy defied all the dangers to be apprehended from inundation. Their destruction and abandonment are ascribable, not so much to any engineering defect, as to the disruption of the village communities, by whom they were so long maintained. The ruin of a reservoir, when neglected and permitted to fall into decay, was speedy and inevi- table ; and as the destruction of the village tank involved the flight of all dependent upon it, the water, once per- mitted to escape, carried pestilence and miasma over the plains they had previously covered with plenty. After such a calamity any partial return of the villagers, even where it was not prevented by the dread of malaria, would have been impracticable ; for the obvious reason, that where the whole combined labour of the commu- nity was not more than sufiicient to carry on the work of conservancy and cultivation, the diminished force of a few would have been utterly unavaihng, either to effect the reparation of the watercourses, or to restore the system on which the culture of rice depends. Thus the process of decay, instead of a gradual decline as in Chap. I.] CASTE. 425 Other countries, became sudden and utter desolation in Ceylon. From such traces as are perceptible in the story of the earliest immigrants, it is obvious that in their domestic habits and civil life they brought with them and perpetuated in Ceylon the same pursuits and traits which characterised the Aiyan races that had colonised the valley of the Ganges. The Singhalese Chronicles abound, like the ancient Vedas, with allusions to agri- culture and herds, to the breeding of cattle and the culture of grain. They speak of village communities and of their social organisation, as purely patriarchal. Women were treated with respect and deference ; and as priestesses and queens they acquired a pro- minent place in the national esteem. Kicli furniture was used in dwelhngs and costly textures for dress ; but these were obtained from other nations, whose ships resorted to the island, whilst its inhabitants, averse to intercourse with foreigners, and ignorant of navigation, held the pursuits of the merchant in no esteem. Caste. — Amongst the aboriginal inhabitants caste ap- pears to have been unknown, although after the arrival of Wijayo and his followers the system in all its minute subdivisions, and slavery, both domestic and prsedial, prevailed throughout the island. The Buddhists, as dissenters, who revolted against the arrogant preten- sions of the Brahmans, embodied in their doctrines a protest against caste under any modification. But even after the conversion of the Singhalese to Buddhism, and their acceptance of the Mth at the hands of Mahindo, caste as a national institution was found too obstinately established to be overthrown by the Buddhist priest- hood ; and reinforced, as its supporters were, by sub- sequent intercourse with the Malabars, it has been perpetuated to the present time, as a conventional and social, though no longer as a sacred institution. Prac- tically, the Singhalese ignore three of the great classes, 426 SCIENCES AND SOCIAL ARTS. [Part IV. theoretically maintained by the Hindus ; among them there are neither Brahmans, Vaisyas, nor Kshastryas ; and at the head of the class which they retain, they place the Goi-wanse or Vellalas, nominally " tillers of the soil." In earher times the institution seems to have been recognised in its entirety, and in the glowing de- scription given in the Mahawanso of the planting of the great Bo-tree, " the sovereign the lord of chariots directed that it should be lifted by the four high caste tribes and by eight persons of each of the other castes." * In later times the higher ranks are seldom spoken of in the liistorical books but by specific titles, but frequent allusion is made to the Chandalas, the lowest of all, who were degraded to the office of scavengers and carriers of corpses.^ Slavery. — The existence of slavery is repeatedly re- ferred to, and in the absence of any specific aUusion to its origin in Ceylon, it must be presumed to have been borrowed from India. As the Sudras, according to the institutes of Menu, were by the laws of caste consigned to helpless bondage, so slavery in Ceylon was an attri- bute of race ^ ; and those condemned to it were doomed to toil from their bh"th, with no requital other than the obhgation on the part of their masters to maintain them in health, to succour them in sickness, and appor- tion their bmxlens to their strength.^ And although the hberality of theoretical Buddhism threw open, even to the lowest caste, all the privileges of the priesthood, the 1 Mahawanso, ch. xix. p. 116. 2 Ihid., cli. X. p. 66. The Cliandala in one of the Jatakas is represented as " one born in the open air, his pa- rents not being possessed of a roof ; and as lie lies amongst the pots when his mother goes to cut fire- wood, he is sucliled by the bitch along with her pups." — Hardy's Buddhism, ch. iii. p. 80. 2 In later times, slaveiy was not confined to the low castes ; insolvents could be made slaves by their credi- tors— the chief frequently buying the debt, and attaching the debtor to his followers. The children of freemen, by female slaves, followed the status of their mothers. ■i Hakdy's Buddhism, ch. x. p. 482. Chap. I.] SLAVERY. 427 slave alone was repulsed, on the ground that his admis- sion would deprive the owner of his services.' Like other property, slaves could be possessed by the Buddliist monasteries, and inscriptions, still existing upon the rocks of jMihintala and Dambool, attest the capacity of the priests to receive them as gifts, and to require that as slaves they should be exempted from taxation. Unrelaxed in its assertion of abstract right, but miti- gated in the forms of its practical enforcement, slavery endured in Ceylon till extinguished by the fiat of the British Government in 1845.^ In the northern and Tamil districts of the island, its characteristics differed considerably from its aspect in the south and amongst the Kandyan mountains. Li the former, the slaves were employed in the labours of the field and rewarded with a small proportion of the produce ; but amongst the pure Smghalese, slavery was domestic rather than prasdial, and those born to its duties were employed less as the servants, than as the suite of the Kandyan chiefs. Slaves swelled the train of their retainers on all occasions of display, and had certain domestic duties assigned to them, amongst wliich was the carrying of fire-wood, and the laying out of the corpse after death. The strongest proof of the general mildness of their treatment in all parts of the island, is derived from the fact, that when in 1845, Lord Stanley, now the Earl of Derby, directed the final abolition of the system, slavery was extinguished in Ceylon without a claim for compensation on the part of the proprietors. Compulsory Labour. — Another institution, to the in- fluence and operation of which the country was indebted for the construction of the works which diffused plenty throughout every region, was the system of Eaja-kariya, ^ Hardy's Eastern 3IonacMsm, ch. iv. p. 18. ^ An account of slaven' in CeyloU; and the proceedings for its suppres- sion, will be found in Pridham's Ceylon, vol. i. p. 223. 428 SCIENCES AXD SOCIAL ARTS. [Part IV. by wliicli the king had a right to employ, for pubhc purposes, the compulsory labour of the iiiliabitants. To what extent this was capable of exaction, or under what safeguards it was enforced in early times, does not appear from the historical books. But on all occasions when tanks were to be formed, or canals cut for irrigation, the Mahawanso alludes — almost in words of course — to the application of Eaja-kariya for theh' construction \ the people being summoned to the task by beat of drum.^ The only mention of the system which attracts parti- cular attention, is the honour awarded to the most pious of the kings, who, whilst maintaining Eaja-kariya as an institution, nevertheless stigmatised it as " oppression " when apphed to non-productive objects ; and on the occasion of erecting one of the most stupendous of the monuments dedicated to the national faith, felt that the merit of the act would be neutralised, were it to be accomplished by " unrequited " labour.^ ^ The inscription engTaven on tlie rock at Mihintala, amongst other re- gulations for enforcing tlie observance by the temple tenants of the con- ditions on which their lands were held, declares that " if a fault be committed by any of the cultivators, the adequate fine shall be assessed according to usage ;. or in lieu thereof, the delin- quent shall be directed to work at the lake in making- au excavation not exceeding sixteen cubits in circum- ference and one cubit deep." — Tije.- koue's Epitome, &c., Appendix, p. 87. "^ Mahawanso, ch. xxv. p. 149. ^ Bnd., ch. xxvii. pp. 163, 165. King Tissa, a. d. 201, in imitation of Dutugaimimu, caused the restorations of monuments at the capital " to he made with paid labour." — Ibid., ch. xxxvi. p. 226. See ante Vol. I. Ft. ni. ch. V. p. 357. 429 CHAR IL AGRICULTURE. — IRRIGATION. CATTLE AND CROPS. Agriculture. — Prior to the arrival of the BengaHs, and even for some centuries after the conquest of Wijayo, before the knowledge of agriculture had extended throughout the island, the inhabitants appear to have subsisted to a great extent by the chase. ^ Hunting the elk and the boar was one of the amusements of the early princes ; the " Eoyal Huntsmen " had a range of buildings erected for their residence at Anarajapoora, B.C. 504^, and the laws of the chase generously forbade to shoot the deer except in flight."^ Dogs were trained to assist in the sport * and the oppressed aborigines, diiven by their conquerors to the forests of Eohuna and Maya, are the subjects of frequent commendation in the pages of the Mahaivanso^ from their singular abihty in the use of the bow.^ Before the arrival of Wijayo, B.C. 543, agricultm^e was unknoAvn in Ceylon, and grain, if grown at all, was not systematically cultivated. The Yakkhos, the aborigines, subsisted, as the Veddahs, their hneal descendants, Hve at the present day, on fruits, honey, and the products of the chase. Eice was distributed by Kuweni to the followers of Wijayo, but it was " rice procured from the "wi^ecked * Malmwanso, cli. x. p. 59 ; ch. xiv. p. 78 ; ch. xxiii. p. 142. The himt- mgof the hare is meutioned 101 B.C. 3£ahmvanso, ch. xxiii. p. 141. 2 Ibid., ch. X. p. m. 3 Ibid., ch. xiv. p. 78. King De- venipiatissa, when descrying the elk which led hini to the uioiuitain where Mahindo was seated, exclaimed, ^' It is not fair to shoot him standing ! " he twano'ed his bowstring and fol- lowed him as he fled. See ante, p. 341, n. * Ibid., ch. xxviii. p. 166. 5 Ibid., ch. xxxiii. pp. 202, 204, &c. 430 SCIENCES AND SOCIAL ARTS. [Fakt IV. ships of mariners." ^ And two centuries later, so scanty was the production of native grfiin, that Asoca, amongst the presents which he sent to his ally Devenipiatissa, included " one hundred and sixty loads of hill paddi fi'om Bengal" ^ A Singhalese narrative of the " Planting of tlie Bo-tree," an Enghsh version of which will be found amongst the translations prepared for Sir Alexander Johnston, men- tions the fact, that rice was still imported into Ceylon from the Coromandel coast ^ in the second century before Christ. Irrigation. — It was to the Hindu kings who succeeded Wijayo, that Ceylon was indebted for the earhest know- ledge of agriculture, for the construction of reservoks, and the practice of irrigation for the cultivation of rice.* ^ 3Iahmvanm, ch. vii. p. 49. ^ Ibid., ch. xi. p. 70. ^ Upham, Sacred Books of Cet/lmi, vol. iii. p. 231. * A very able report on irrigation in some of the districts of Cej'lon has been recently drawn np by Mr. Bailey, of the Ceylon Civil Service ; but the author has been led into an error in supposing that, " it cannot be to India that we must look for the origin of tanks and canals in Ceylon," and that the knowledge of their con- struction was derived through " the Arabian and Persian merchants who traded between Egj'pt and Ceylon." Mr. Bailey rests this conclusion on the assertion that the first Indian canal of which we have any record dates no farther back than the middle of the fourteenth century. There was nothing in common betAveen the shallow canals for distributing the periodical inundation of the Nile over the level lands of Egypt (a country in which rice was little kno-mi), and the gigantic embankments by which hills were so connected in Ceylon as to convert the valleys be- tween them into inland lakes ; and there was no similarity to render the excavation of the one a model and precedent for the construction of the other. Probably the lake Moeris is what dwells in the mind of those who ascribe proficiency in irrigation to the ancient Egyptians ; but although Herodotus asserts it to have been an excavation, ytipoTroiriToc Kai opvKTJi (lib. ii. 149), geologic investigation has shown tlaat Moeris is a natm-al lake created by the local depression of that portion of the Arsinoite nome. Neither Strabo nor Pliny, who be- lieved it to be artificial, ascribed its origin to anything connected with in'igation, for which, in fact, its level would render it unsuitable. Nature had done so much for irrigation in Egypt, that art was forestalled ; and even had it been otherwise, and had the natives of that country been adepts in the science, or capable of teaching it, the least qualified imparters of engineering knowledge would have been the Arab and Persian mariners, whose lives were spent in coasting the shores of the Indian Ocean. It is true that in Arabia itself, at a veiy early period, there is the tradition of the great artificial lake of Aram, in Yemen, about the time of Alexander the Great (Sale's 7io?-«??, Introd. p. 7); and evidence still more authentic shows that the practice of artificial irrigation was one of the earliest oc- CuAr. II.] IREIGATION. 431 The first tank in Ceylon was formed by tlie successor of Wijayo, B.C. 504, and their subsequent extension to an ahnost incredible number is ascribable to the influence of the Buddhist rehgion, which, abhorring cupations of the hmnan race. The Scriptures, in enumerating- the de- scendants of Shem, state that " unto Eber were bom two sons, and the name of one was Peleg-, for in his days the earth was divided." (Genesis, ch. X. ver. 25.) In this passage, according to Cyril C. Graham, the term Pele;/ has a profouuder meaning, and the sentence should have been transLated — "for in Ins days the eaHh tvas cut into canals." (Cainhridge Essays,\SoS.^ But historical testimony exists which removes all obscm-ity from the inquiry as to who were the instruc- tors of the Singhalese. The most ancient books of the Hindus show that the practice of canal- making was vmderstood in India at as early a period as in Egypt. Canals are mentioned in the Raijumana, the story of which be- longs to the dimmest antiquity ; and when Baratha, the half-brother of Kama, was about to search for him in the Dekkan, his train is described as including "laboui-ers, "with carts, bridge-builders, cai-penters, and dig- gers of canals." (Ramayana, Cart's Trans., vol. iii. p. 228.) The Maha- wanso, removes all doubt as to the person by whom the Singhalese were instructed in forming works for irriga- tion, by naming the Brahman engineer contemporary with the construction of the earliest tanks in the fourth century before the Christian era. (3Iahawanso, ch. x.) Somewhat later, B.C. 262, the inscription on tlie rock at Mihintala ascribes to the Malabars the system of managing the water for the rice lands, and directs that " ac- coi-ding to the supply of water in the lake, the same shall be distri- buted to the lands of the wihara in the manner formerly reytdated hy the Tamils." (Notes to Turkour's Epitome, p. 90.) To be convinced of the Tamil origin of the tank system which subsists to the present day in CeyloH; it is only necessary to see the tanks of the Southern Dekkan. The innumerable excavated reservoirs or colams of Ceylon wall be found to cor- respond with the cidams of IMysore ; and the vast erays formed by drawing a bmid to intercept the water flowing between two elevated ridges, exhibit the model which has been followed at Pathavie, Kandelai, Menery, and all the huge constructions of Ceylon. But whoever may have been the ori- ginal instructors of the Singhalese in the formation of tanks, there seems every reason to believe that from their own subsequent experience, and the prodigious extent to which they oc- cupied themselves in the formation of works of this kind, they attained a fiicility imsurpassed by the people of any other country. It is a curious circumstance in connection with this inquiry, that in the eighth century after Christ, the King of Kashmir despatched messengers to Ceylon to bring back workmen, whom he em- ployed in constructing an artificial lake. (Raja-Taranyini, Book iv. si. •50-5.) If it were necessary to search beyond India for the origin of culti- vation in Ceylon, the Singhalese, in- stead of borrowing a system from Egypt, might more naturally have imitated the ingenious devices of their own co-religionists in China, where the system of irrigation as pursued in the militaiy colonies of that comitry has been a theme of admiration in every age of their history. (See Jour- nal Asifdiqve, 1850, vol. Ivi. pp. .341, .340.) And as these colonies were planted not only in the centre of the empire, but on its north-west extre- mities towards Kaschgar and the north-east of India, where the new settlers occupied themselves in drain- ing marshes and leading streams to water their arable lands, the proba- bilities are that their system may have been kuowTi and copied by the people of Hindustan. 432 SCIENCES AND SOCIAL ARTS. [Part IV- the destruction of animal life, taught its multitudinous votaries to subsist exclusively upon vegetable food. Hence the planting of gardens, the diffusion of fruit- trees and leguminous vegetables \ the sowing of dry grain ^, the formation of reservoks and canals, and the reclamation of land " in situations favourable for irri- gation." It is impossible to over-estimate the importance of this system of water cultivation, in a country -like the north of Ceylon, subject to periodical droughts. From physical and geological causes, the mode of cultivation in that section of the island differs essentially from that practised in the southern division; and whilst in the latter the frequency of the rains and abundance of rivers afford a copious supply of water, the rest of the country is mainly dependent upon artificial irrigation, and on the quantity of rain collected in tanks ; or of water diverted from streams and directed into reser- voks. As has been elsewhere ^ explained, the mountain ranges which tower along the south-western coast, and extend far towards the eastern, serve in both monsoons to intercept the trade winds and condense the vapours with which they are charged, thus ensuring to those regions a plentiful supply of rain. Hence the harvests in those portions of the island are regulated by the two monsoons, .the yalla in May and the maha in November ; and seed-time is adjusted so as to take advantage of the copious showers which fall at those periods. But in the northern portions of Ceylon, owing to the absence of mountains, this natural resource cannot be rehed on. The winds in both monsoons traverse the island without parting with a sufficiency of moisture ; ^ Beans, designated by the term of 3fasu in tlie 3Iahawanso, were grown in the second century before Christ, ell. xxiii, p. liO. ^ The " cultivation of a crop of hill rice" is mentioned in the Mahawanso, B.C. 77, ch. xxxiv. p. 208. =* See Vol. I. Part i. ch. ii. p. 67. Chap. II.] lERIGATION. 433 droughts are of frequent occurrence and of long con- tinuance ; and vegetation in the low and scarcely undu- lated plains is mainly dependent on dews and whatever damp is distributed by the steady sea-breeze. In some places the sandy soil rests upon beds of madrepore and coral rock, through which the scanty rain percolates too quickly to refresh the soil ; and the husbandman is entirely dependent upon wells and village tanks for tlie means of migation. In a region exposed to such vicissitudes the risk would have been imminent and incessant, had the population been obhged to rely on supplies of dry grain alone, the growth of wliich must necessarily have been precarious, owing to the possible failure or deficiency of the rains. Hence frequent famines would have been inevitable in those seasons of prolonged dryness and scorching heat, when " the sky becomes as brass and the earth as iron." Wliat an unspeakable blessing that against such ca- lamities a security should have been found by the intro- duction of a grain calculated to germinate under water ; nd that a perennial supply of the latter, not only adequate for aU ordinary purposes, but sufficient to guard against extraordinary emergencies of the seasons, should have been pro\ided by the ingenuity of the people, aided by the bounteous care of their sovereigns. It is no matter of surprise that the kings who devoted their treasures and their personal energies to the formation of tanks and canals have entitled their memory to tra- ditional veneration, as benefactors of their race and country. In striking contrast, it is the pithy remark of the autlior of the Raj avail, momning over the extinction of the Great Dynasty and the dechne of the country, that '"'■ because the fertility of the land was decreased the kings who followed were no longer of such consequence as those who went before." ^ ' Rajavali, p. 238. VOL. I. F F 434 SCIENCES AND SOCIAL .VETS. [Part IV. Simultaneously "vvitli the construction of works for the advancement of agricultm'e, the patriarchal village system, copied from that which existed from the earhest ages in India ^, was estabhshed in the newly settled districts;" and each hamlet, with its governing " headman " its artisans, its barber, its astrologer and washerman, was taught to conduct its own affairs by its village council ; to repair its tanks and watercourses, and to collect two harvests in each year by the combined labom- of the whole village community. Between the agricultural system of the mountainous districts and that of the lowlands, there was at all times the same difference which still distinguishes the tank cultivation of Neuera-kalawa and the Wanny from the hanging rice lands of the Kandyan hills. In the latter, reservoks are comparatively rare, as the natives rely on the certainty of the rains, which seldom fail at their due season in those lofty regions. Streams are conducted by means of channels ingeniously carried round the spurs of the hiUs and along the face of acclivities, so as to fertilise the fields below, which in the technical phrase of the Kandyans are " assoedamised " for the purpose ; that is, formed into terraces, each protected by a shallow ledge over which the superfluous water trickles, from the highest level into that immediately below it; thus descending tln^ough all in succession till it escapes in the depths of the valley. For tlie tillage of the lands with which the temples were so largely endowed in all quarters of the island, the sacred communities had assigned to them certain villages, a portion of whose labour was the property of the wihara^ : slaves were also appropriated to them, and an instance is mentioned in the fifth century^, of the inhabitants of a low-caste village having been be- stowed on a monastery by the king Aggrabodhi, " in order ^ llahmvaiiso, ch. x. p. 67. I ^ Ilock inscriptions at Mihintala '^ Ibid, ch. xxxvii. p. 247. | and at Dambool. Chap. II.] AGEICULTUEE. 435 that the priests might derive their service as slaves." ^ Sharing in a prerogative of royaUy, some of tlie temples had, moreover, a right to the compulsory labour of the community ; and in one of the inscriptions carved on the rock at Mihintala, the " Eaja-kariya writer" is enu- merated in the hst of temple officers.^ The temple lands were occasionally let to tenants whose rent was paid either in " land-fees," or in kind.^ Farm-stock. — The only farm-stock which appears to have been kept for tillage purposes, were buffaloes, which, then as now, were used in treading the soft mud of the irrigated rice-fields, preparatory to casting in the seed. Cows are alluded to in the Mahawanso, but never in connection with labour ; and although butter is spoken of, it is only that of the buffalo.^ Gardens. — Probably the earliest enclosures attempted in a state of incipient civilisation, were gardens for the exclusion of wild animals from fruit trees and vegeta- bles, when these were first cultivated for the use of man; and to the present day, the frequent occurrence of the termination " watte " in the names of places on the map of Ceylon, is in itself an indication of the im- portance attached to them by the villagers. The term "garden," however, conveys to an European but an imperfect idea of the character and style of these places ; which in Ceylon are so similar to the native gardens in the south of India, as to suggest a community of origin. Their leading features are hues of the graceful areca palms, groves of oranges, limes, jak-trees, and bread fruit ; and irregular clumps of palmyras and coco- nuts. Beneath these, there is a minor growth, sometimes of cinnamon or coffee bushes ; and always a Avilderness of plaintains, guavas and papaws ; a few of the commoner flowers ; plots of brinjals (egg plants) and other esculents ; ^ Blahawanso, cli. xlii. TunNOtrR, MS. trauslation. ^ Tuiikofk's Epitome, Appcndir, p. 88. 3 Ilml, pp. 86, 87. "^ 3I(thmvanso, eh. xxvii. p. 1G3, 436 SCIENCES AND SOCIAL ARTS. [Part IV. and tlie steins of the standard trees are festooned with chmbers, pepper vines, tomatas, and betel. The Coco-nut Palm. — It is curious and suggestive as regards the coco-nut, which now enters so largely into the domestic oeconomy of the Singhalese, that al- though it is sometimes spoken of in the Mahawanso (but by no means so often as the palmyra), no allusion is ever made to it as an article of diet, or an element in the preparation of food, nor is it mentioned before the reign of Prakrama I., a.d. 1153^, in the list of those fruit-trees, the planting of which throughout the island is repeatedly recorded, as amongst the munificent acts of the Singhalese kino's. As the other species of the same genus of palms are confined to the New World ^, a doubt has been raised whether the coco-nut be inchgenous in India, or an im- portation. If the latter, tlie first plant must have been introduced anterior to the historic age ; and whatever the period at which the tree may have been first cul- tivated, a time is indicated when it was practically im- known in Ceylon by the fact, that a statue, without date or inscription, is carved in high relief in a niche hol- lowed out of a rock to the east of Galle, which tradition says is the monument to the Kustia Eaja, an Indian prince, whose claim to remembrance is, that he first tau2fht the Sinf>Iialese the use of the coco-nut.^ ^ Mahmva7iso, cli. Ixxii. 2 Brown's Notes to Tucket's Ex- pcdition to the Congo, p. 456. ^ The earliest mention of the coco-nut in Ceylon occurs in the Mahawanso, which refers to it as kno^vn at Rohuna to the south, B. C 101 (ch. XXV. p. 140). " The milk of the small red coco-nut " is stated to have been used by Dutu'es and alliances with the princes of India. ^ The building of dhoneys is adverted to as early as the first century, but they were only intended by a devout king to be stationed along the shores of the island, covered by day w^ith Avhite cloths, and by night illuminated with lamps, in order that from them priests, as the royal almoners, might distribute gifts and donations of food.^ The genius of the people seems to have never inchned them to a sea-faring hfe, and the earhest notice which occurs of ships for the defence of the coast, is in connec- tion with the Malabars who were taken into the royal service from their skill in naval aifairs.^ A national marine was afterwards established for this purpose, a.d. 495, by the King Mogallana."* In the Suy-shoo, a Chinese history of the Suy dynasty, it is stated that m a.d. 607, the king of Ceylon " sent the Brahman Kew-mo-16 with thirty vessels, to meet the approaching ships which con- veyed an embassy from China." ^ And in the twelfth century, when Prakrama I. was about to enter on his foreign expeditions, " several hundreds of vessels were equipped for that service within five months." "^ It is remarkable that the same apathy to na\dgation, if not antipathj^ to it, still prevails amongst the inhabi- tants of an island, the long sea-borde of which affords facihties for cultivating a maritime taste, did any such exist. But whilst the natives of Hindustan fit out sea- going vessels, and take service as sailors for distant voy- ages, the Singhalese, though most expert as fishers and boatmen, never embark in foreign vessels, and no in- 1 Tunyotm's Epitome, App. p. 73. "^ By King Maha Dailiya, A.D. 8. Mahaivanso, cli. xxxiv. p. 211 ; Raja- vali, p. 228 ; Rajaratnacari, p. 52. ^ B. c. 247, Mahcucanso, ch. xxi. p. 127. * 3Iahaiva>iso, ch. xl. TiTRNOrR's MS. Transl. ^ Suy-shoo, b. Ixxxi. p. 3. ^ Tuuxouk's Ejntome, kc, App. p. 73. 442 SCIENCES AND SOCIAL AETS. [Part IV. stance exists of a native ship, owned, built, or manned by Singhalese. The boats which are in use at the present day, and which differ materially in build at different parts of the island, appear to have been all copied from models supphed by other countries. In the south the curious canoes, which attract the eye of the stranger arriving at Point de Galle by their balance-log and outrigger, were borrowed from the islanders of the Eastern Archipelago ; the more substantial canoe called a ballam, which is found in the estuaries and shallow lakes around the northern shore, is imitated from one of similar form on the Malabar coast ; and the catamaran is common to Ceylon and Coromandel. The awkward dhoneys, built at Jaffna, and manned by Tamils, are imitated from those at Madras ; while the Singhalese dhoney, south of Colombo, is but an enlargement of the Galle canoe with its outrigger, so clumsily constructed that the gunwale is frequently topped by a line of wicker-work smeared with clay, to protect the deck from the wash of the sea.^ One pccuharity in the mode of constructing the native shipping of Ceylon existed in the remotest times, and is retained to the present day. The practice is closely coimected with one of the most imaginative incidents in the mediteval romances of the East. Their boats and canoes, hke those of tlie Arabs and other early navigators who crept along the shores of India, are put together without the use of iron nails ^, the planks being secured by wooden bolts, and stitched together with cords spun from the fibre of the coco- ^ The gunwale of the boat of Ulysses was raised by hurdles of osiers to keep oil' the waves. $pa4'f Se fxiv fViTtKyai ^lajXTTipiQ olavhnjai ILl'jJiaTOQ lVK(ip tjllP' TToWip' (5' tTTl- XivctTo vX)]}'. 0(1. V. 256. 2 DelatjeieR; Etudes sur la " Re- lation lies voyages faits par les Arahes et Ics Persans dans Vlnde." Journ. Asiat. torn. xlix. p. 137. See also Malte Beun, Hist, de G6o(/r. torn. i. p. 409, with the references to the Peri- plus Mar. Erythr., Strabo, Procopius, &c. GiBBON; Decl. and Fall, vol. v. ch. xl. CUAP. III.] SHIPS. 443 nut.^ Palladius, a Greek of the lower empire, to Avliom is ascribed an account of the nations of India, written in the fifth century^, adverts to this pecuharity of construction, and connects it with the phenomenon which forms so striking an incident in one of the tales in the Arabian Nights' Entertainments. In the story of the "Three Eoyal Mendicants," the "Third Cal- ender," as he is called in the old translation, relates to the ladies of Bagdad, in whose house he is enter- tained, how he and his companions lost their course, when sailing; in the Indian Ocean, and found them- selves in the vicinity of " the mountain of loadstone towards which the current carried them with violence, and when the ships approached it they fell asunder, and the nails and everything that was of iron flew from them towards the loadstone." The learned commentator. Lane, says that several Arab writers describe this mountain of loadstone, and amongst others he instances El Caswini, who lived in the latter half of the thirteenth century,^ Edrisi, the Arab geographer, likewise alludes to it ; but the inven- tion belongs to an earlier age, and Palladius, in de- scribing Ceylon, says that the magnetic rock is in the adjacent islands called Maniola^ (Maldives ?), and that ships coming within the sphere of its influence are irresistibly drawn towards it, and lose all power of progress except in its direction. Hence it is essential, he adds, that vessels sailing for Ceylon should he fastened with icooden instead of iroti bolts.^ ^ Boats thus sewn together existed at an early period on the coast of Arabia as well as of Ceylon. Odoric of Friuli saw them at Ormus in the fourteenth century (Ilnldiii/f, vol. ii. p. 35) ; and the construction of ships without ii'on was not peculiar to the Indian seas, as Homer mentions that the boat built by Ulysses was put together with wooden pegs, yofKpoiaiv, instead of bolts. Odys. v. 249. "^ The tract alluded to is usually Imown as the ti*eatise de Mwihus Brachmanorum, and ascribed to St. Ambrose. For an account of it see Vol. I. Ft. V. ch. i. p. 538. 3 Lane's Arabian NUjhts, vol. i. ch. iii. n. 72, p. 242. 4 ''"Ecrrt Ct tSiKuJQ to. Sianfpwvra ttXoIu i'lQ tKch'Tjv Ti)v fityciXrjv vijaov dvtv (Tihlpov i-TTtovp'ioiQ £i)Xi')'oit' Kfira- (TKtvaapiva.'''' — Palladius, in Pseudo- CalHsfhenes, lib. iii. c. vii. But the fable of the loadstone mountain is 444 SCIENCES AND SOCIAL ARTS. [Part IV. Another peculiarity of the native craft on the west coast of Ceylon is their construction with a prow at each extremity, a characteristic which belongs also to the Massoula boats of Madras, as well as to others on the south of India. It is a curious illustration of the abiding nature of local usages when originating in neces- sities and utihty, that Strabo, in describing the boats in which the traffic was carried on between Taprobane and the continent, says they were " built with prows at each end, but without holds or keels." ^ In connection with foreign trade the Mahawanso con- tains repeated allusions to ships wrecked upon the coast of Ceylon^, and amongst the remarkable events which signahsed the season, already rendered memorable by the birth of Dutugaimunu, B.C. 204, was the " arrival on the same day of seven ships laden with golden utensils and other goods ; "^ and as these were brought by order of the king to Mahagam, then the capital of Eohuna, the inci- dent is probably referable to the foreign trade which was then carried on in the south of the island^ by the Chinese older than either the Arabian sailors or the Greeks of the lower empire. Aristotle speaks of a magnetic mountain on the coast of India, and Pliny repeats the story, adding that "■ si sint clavi in calciamentis, ves- tigia avelli in altero non posse in altero sisti." — Lib. ii. c. 98, lib. xxxvi. c. 25. Ptolemy recounts a similar fable in his geography. Klaproth, in his Lettre sur la Boussole, says that this romantic belief was first com- municated to the West from China. *' Les anciens auteurs Chinois par- lent aussi de montagnes magnetiques de la mer meridionale sur les cotes de Tonquin et de la Cochin Chine ; et disent que si les vaisseaux etrangers qui sout garnis de plaques de fer s'en approchent ils y sont an-etes et aucun d'eux ue pent passer par ces endroits." — IvLAPROin, Lett. V. p. 117, quoted by Santakem, Es- sni sur V Hist, de Cosmo(jr., vol. i. p. 182. tyKoiXUuv fir}TpiZi' \iofiir." — Lib. XV. C. i. s. 14. Pliny, who makes the same statement,saysthe Singhalese adopted this model to avoid the necessity of tacking in the narrow and shallow channels, between Ceylon and the mainland of India (lib. vi. c. 24). ^ B. c. 54.3. 3Iahawanso, ch. vii. p. 49 : n.c. 306. Ibkl. ch. xi. p. 68, &c. 3 lluhciwcinso, ch. xxii. p. 135. * The first direct intimation of trading carried on by native Sin- ghalese, along the coast of Ceylon, occurs in the MajavaH, but not till the year a. d. 1410, — the king, who had made Cotta his capital, being represented as " loading a vessel with goods and sending it to Jaffna, to carry on commerce with his son." — Rajuvali, p. 289. CuAr. III.] EARLY EXPORTS. 445 and Arabians, and in wliicli, as I have stated, tlie native Singhalese took no part. Still, notwithstanding their repugnance to intercourse with strangers, the Singhalese were not destitute of traffic amongst themselves, and their historical annals contain allusions to the mode in which it was conducted. Their cities exhibited rows of shops and bazaars ^, and the coun- try was traversed by caravans much in the same manner as the drivers of tavalams carry goods at the present day between the coast and the interior.^ Whatever merchandise was obtained in barter from foreign sliips, was by this means conveyed to the cities and the capital ^, and the reference to carts which were accustomed to go from Anarajapoora to the division of Malaya, lying round Adam's Peak, " to procure saffi'on and ginger," imphes that at that period (b. c. 165) roads and other facihties for wheel carriages must have existed, enabhng them to traverse forests and cross the rivers.^ Early Exports of Ceylon. — The native historians give an account of the exports of Ceylon, which corre- sponds in all particulars with the records left by the early travellers and merchants, Greek, Eoman, Ai-abian, Indian, and Chinese. They consisted entirely of natural productions, aromatic drugs, gems, pearls, and shells ; and it is a strong evidence of the more advanced state of civihsation in India at the same period that, whilst the presents sent from the kings of Ceylon to the native ' B. c. 204, a visitor to Ajiaraja- poora is described as " purchasing' aromatic drugs from the bazaars, and departing by the Xorthem Gate" (3I(ihmvanso, ch. xxiii. p. 139) ; and A.D. 8, the King Maha Dathika "ranged shops on each side of the streets of the capital." — 3Iahcnvanso, ch. xxxiv. p. 213. ^ B.C. 170. Mnhmoanso, ch. xxii. p. 138. ^ In the reign of Elala, B.C. 204, the son of "an eminent caravan chief " was despatched to a Brahman, who resided near the Chetiyo moun- tain (Mihintala), in whose possession there were rich articles, frankincense, sandal- wood, &c., imported from be- yond the ocean. — 3IahinL-anso, ch. xxiii. p. 138. * JiahauYt/hsa, ch. xxviii. p. 107. 446 SCIENCES AND SOCIAL ARTS. [Part IV princes of Hindustan and the Dekkan were always of tins precious but primitive character, the articles re- ceived in return were less remarkable for the intrinsic value of the material, than for the workmanship be- stowed upon them. Devenipiatissa sent by his ambassa- dors to Asoca, B. c. 306, " the eight varieties of pearls, viz., hay a (the horse), gaja (the elephant), ratha (the chariot wheel), maalaka (the nelU fruit), valaya (the bracelet), anguliwelahka (the ring), kakudapliala (the kabook fruit), and pakatika^ the ordinary description. He sent sapphires, lapis lazuli \ and rubies, a right hand chank ^, and three bamboos for cliariot poles, remarkable because their natural marking resembled the carvings of flowers and animals. The gifts sent by the king of Magadha in return, indicate the advanced state of the arts in Bengal, even at that early period : they were " a chowrie (the royal fly flapper), a diadem, a sword of state, a royal parasol, golden slippers, a crown, an anointing vase, asbestos towels, to be cleansed by being passed through the fire, a costly howdah, and sundry vessels of gold." Along with these was sacred water from the Anotatto lake and from the Ganges, aromatic and medicinal drugs, hill paddi and sandal-wood ; and amongst the other items " a virgin of royal birth and of great personal beauty." ^ Early Imports. — Down to a very late period, gems, pearls, and chank shells continued to be the only products taken away from Ceylon, and cinnamon is nowhere mentioned in the Sacred Books as amongst the exports of the island.^ In return for these exports, ^ Lapis laziUi is not found in Cey- lon, and must have been brought by the caravans from Budakslian. It is more than once mentioned in the Mahawanso, ch. xi. p. 09 : ch. xxx. p. 186. * A variety of the TurhineUa rapa with the whorls reversed, to which the natives attach a superstitious value ; professing- that a shell so formed is worth its weight in gold. 3 3Iahawanso, ch. xi. pp. GO, 70. * For an account of the earliest trade in cinnamon, see post Part v. ch. ii. on the Ivnowledge of Ceylon possessed by the Ai'abians. ClIAP. III.] EARLY IMPORTS. 447 slaves, chariots, and horses were frequently transmitted from India. The riding horses and chargers, so often spoken of \ must necessarily have been introduced from thence, and were probably of Arab blood; but I have not succeeded in discovering to what particular race the " Sindhawa " horses belonged, of which fom^ purely white were harnessed to the state carriage of Dutugai- munu.^ Gold cloth ^, frankincense, and sandal-wood were brought from India ^, as was also a species of " clay " and of " cloud-colom^ed stone," which appear to have been used in the construction of dagobas.^ Silk ^ and vermihon '' indicate the activity of trade with China ; and woollen cloth ^ and carpets ^ with Persia and Kashmu\ Intercourse with Kashmir. — Possibly the woollen cloths referred to may have been shawls, and there is e\idence in the Rajatarangini^^, that at a very early period the possession of a common religion led to an intercourse between Ceylon and Kashmir, originating in the sympatliies of Buddhism, but perpetuated by the Kashmuians for the pui'suit of commerce. In the fabulous period of the narrative, a king of Kashmir is said to have sent to Ceylon for a dehcately fine cloth, em- broidered with golden footsteps. ^^ In the eighth century of tlie Christian era, Sino-halese enoineers were sent for to construct Avorks in Kashmir ^^ ; and Kashmir, according 1 3Iahaivc(nso, cli. xxii. p. 134, &c. iS:c. ^ Ibid., cli. xxiii. p. 142; cli. xxxi. p. 18G. • ^ A.D.459. 3Iahaicati,so,ch.. xxxyiii. p. 258. " Ibid, ch. xxiii. p. 138. ^ Ibid., cli. xxix. p. 109 ; ch. xxx. p. 179. '^ Ibid., cli. xxiii. p. 139 ; Rajarat- nacari, p. 49. ' Ibid., ch. xxix. p. 1G9 ; Rajarat- ncicari, p. 51. ^ Mahawanso, ch. xxx. p. 177 ; Rajavali, p. 209. Woollen cloth is described as " most valuable " — an epithet which indicates its rarity, and probably foreign origin. ° 3Iahmoanso, ch. xiv. p. 82 ; ch. XT. p. 87 ; ch. XXV. p. 151 ; carpets of wool, lb. ch. xxvii. p. 104. 1° The RaJ(da)-a)if/ini vesemhles the 3Iahaicanso, in being a metrical chronicle of Kashmir written at A'arions times by a series of authors, the earliest of whom lived in the 12th century. It has been translated into French by 31. Troyer, Paris, 1840. ^^ Rnjataramiini, b. i. si. 294. '- Rajaturatujini, b. iv. si. 502, &c. 448 SCIENCES AND SOCIAL ARTS. [Part IV. to Troyer, took part in the trade between Ceylon and the West.i Of the trade between Ceylon and Kashmir and its progress, the account given by Edeisi, the most re- nowned of the writers on eastern geography, who wrote in the twelfth century^, is interesting, inasmuch as it may be regarded as a picture of this remarkable commerce, after it had attained its highest develop- ment. Edrisi did not write from personal knowledge, as he had never visited either Ceylon or India ; but compiling as he did, by command of Eoger II., of Sicily, a compen- dium of geographical knowledge as it existed in his time, the information which he has systematised may be re- garded as a condensation of such facts as the eastern sea- men engaged in the Indian trade had brought back with them from Ceylon. " In the mountains around Adam's Peak," says Edrisi, " they collect precious stones of every description, and in tlie valleys they find those diamonds by means of which they engrave the setting of stones on rings." The same mountains produce aromatic drugs per- ' " La communication entre Kacli- mil* et Ceylan n'a pas eu lieu seule- ment par les entreprises guerrieres quejeviensde rappeler, mais aussi par im commerce paisible ; c'est du cette lie que venaieut des artistes qu'on appelait Rakchasas a cause du merveilleux de leur art; et qui cxecutaient des ouvrag-es pour I'utilite et pour I'ornement d'un pays montagneux etsujetaux inondations. Ceci confirme ce que nous appren- nent les gdogtaplies Grecs, que Cey- lan, avant et apres le commencement de notre ere, etait un grand point de remiion pour le commerce de I'Orient et de I'Occident." — JRaJatctranr/ini, vol. ii. p. 434. '^ Abou-alKl-allah Mabommedwas a IMoor of tlie family who reigned over Malaga after tbe fall of the Kalifat of Cordova, in tlie early part of the lltb century, and liis patronymic of Edrisi or Al Edrissy implies tbat lie was descended from the princes of tbat race wbo bad previously beld supreme power in wbat is at tlie pre- sent day the Empire of Morocco. He took up bis residence in Sicily under tbe patronage of tbe Norman king, Roger II., A.D. 1154, and the work on geograpby wbicb be tliere com- posed was not only based on tbe pre- vious labours of Massoudi, Ibn Plaukul, Alb>T0uni, and otbers, but it embodied tbe reports of persons commissioned specially by tbe king to undertake voyages for tbe purpose of bringing back coiTect accounts of foreign countries. See Reinaud's Introductmi to the Geography of Ahdfeda, p. cxiii. Chap. III.] FOREIGN TEADE, 449 fiimes, and aloes-wood, and there too they find tlie animal, the civet, which jdelds musk. The islanders cultivate rice, coco-nuts, and sugar-cane ; in the rivers is fomid rock crystal, remarkable both for brilhancy and size, and the sea on every side has a fishery of magni- ficent and priceless pearls. Throughout India there is no prince whose wealth can compare with the King of Serendib, liis immense riches, his pearls and his jewels, being the produce of his own dominions and seas ; and thither ships of China, and of every neighbouring country resort, bringing the wines of Irak and Fars, which the king buys for sale to his subjects ; for he diinks wine and prohibits debauchery ; whilst other princes of India encom^age debauchery and prohibit the use of wine. The exports from Serendib consist of silk, precious stones, crystals, diamonds, and per- fumes." ^ ^ Edeisi, Geographie, Trad. Jaubert, torn. i. p. 73. VOL. I. GO 450 SCIENCES AND SOCIAL ARTS. [Part IV. CHAP. IV. MANUFACTURES. The silk alluded to in the last chapter must have been brought from China for re-exportation to the West. Silk is frequently mentioned in the Mahawanso ^ but never with any suggestion of its being a native pro- duct of Ceylon. Coir and Cordage. — Edrisi speaks of cordage made from the fibre of the coco-nut, to prepare which, the natives of Oman and Yemen resorted to Cey- lon ^ ; so that the Singhalese would appear to have been instructed by the Arabs in the treatment of coir, and its formation into ropes ; an occupation which, at the present day, afibrds extensive employment to the inhabitants of the south and south-western coasts. Ibn Batuta describes the use of coir, for sewing toge- ther the planking of boats, as it was practised at Zafar in the fourteenth century ^ ; and the word itself bespeaks its Arabian origin, as Albyrouni, who divides the Maldives and Laccadives into two classes, calls the one group the Dyvah-kouzah, or islands that produce cowries; and the other the Dyvah-kanhar, or islands that produce coir.'^ Dress. — The dress of the people was of the simplest ^ Silk is mentioned 20 b.c. Raja- rcttnacari, p. 49. 3Iahawanso, ch. xxiii. p. 139. 2 Edeisi, t. i. p. 74. 3 Voyages, 8)'c., vol. ii. p. 207. Paris, 1854. * AlBYEOTJNI, inlvEYNAUD, J?W/?». Arahes, 8fc., pp. 93, 124. The Por- tuguese adopted the word from the Hindus, and Castaneda, in Hist, of ihe Discovery of India, describes the Moors of Sofalah sewing their boats with " cayro," ch. v. 14, xxx. 75. CuAP. IV.] MANUFACTURES. 451 kind, and similar to that which is worn at the pre- sent day. The bulk of the population wore scanty cloths, without shape or seam, folded closely round tlie body and the portion of the hmbs which it is cus- tomary to cover ; and the Chinese, who visited the island in the seventli century, described the people as clothed in the loose robe, still known as a "com- boy," a word probably derived from the Chinese koo- pei, which signifies cotton.^ The wealthier classes indulged in flomng robes, and Bujas Dasa the king, who in the fourth century devoted himself to the study of medicine and the cure of the sick, was accustomed, when seeldng objects for his com- passion, to appear as a common person, simply " dis- guising himself by gathering his cloth up between his legs." ^ Eobes with flowers ^, and a turban of silk, con- stituted the dress of state bestowed on men whom the king dehghted to honom\^ Cloth of gold is spoken of in the fifth century, but the allusion is probably made to the Idnbaub of India. ^ JMaxual axd Mechan-ical Arts. Weaving. — The aborigines practised the art of wea^dng before the arrival of Wijayo, Kuweni, when the adventurer approached her, was " seated at the foot of a tree, spinning thread ; " ^ cotton was the ordinary material, but " hnen cloth " is mentioned in the second century before Christ/ Wliite cloths are spoken of as having been employed, in the earhest times, in every ceremony for covering chairs on which persons of rank were expected to be seated ; whole " webs of cloth " were used to wrap the carandua in which the sacred rehcs were enclosed ^, and one of the ^ See Part y. cli. iii. on tlie Know- ledge of Ceylon possessed by the Chinese. * Maluncanso, ch. xxxvii. p. 245. 5 By the ordinances of Buddhism it was forbidden to the priesthood "to adorn the body with flowers," thus showing- it to have been a prac- tice of the laity. Haedy's EaMern llonachism, ch. iv. p. 24 ; ch. xiii. p. 128. * Mahaicmiso, ch. xxiii. p. 139. 5 II)id., ch. xxxviii. p. 258. ^ 3Iahawanso, ch. vii. p. 48 ; Rqja- vali, p. 173. ■^ Mahtncanso, ch. xxv. p, 152, ^ Rajaratnacari, p. 72. 452 SCIENCES AND SOCIAL AETS. [Part IV. kings, on the occasion of consecrating a dagoba at Miliintala, covered with " white cloth " the road taken by the procession between the mountain and capital, a distance of more than seven miles. ^ In later times a curious practice prevailed, which exists to the present day ; — on occasions when it is intended to make offerings of yellow robes to the priest- hood, the cotton was plucked from the tree at day- break, and "cleaned, spun, woven, dyed, and made into garments" before the setting of the sun. This custom, called Catina Dhawna, is first referred to in the Rajaratnacari in the reign of Pralo-ama l.\ a.d. 1153. The expression " made into garments " alludes to the custom enjoined on the priests of having the value of the material destroyed, before consenting to accept it as a gift, thus carrying out thek vow of poverty. The robe of Gotama Buddha was cut into thirty pieces, these were again united, so that they "resembled the patches of ground in a rice field ; " and hence he en- joined on his foUowers the observance of the same practice.^ The arts of bleaching and dyeing were understood as well as that of weaving, and the Mahawanso, in describing the building of the Euanw^elle dagoba, at Anarajapoora, B.C. 161, tells of a canopy formed of " eight thousand pieces of cloth of every hue." ^ Earliest Artisans. — Valentyn, writing on the tradi- tional . information acquked from the Singhalese them- selves, records the behef of the latter, that in the suite of the Pandyan princess, who arrived to marry Wijayo, were artificers from Madura, who were the first to intro- 1 A.D. 8. Rajavali, p. 227 ; 3Iaha- tcanso, ch. xxxiv. p. 2l3. ^ See ante, Vol. II. p. 35. Jiq/a- ratnacari, pp. 104, 109, 112, \?>b; Rajavali, p. 261 ; IIaeby's Eustern Monachismj ch., xii. pp. 114, 121. ^ IIaiidt'.s EastiTii 3Ionach{sm, ch. xii. p. 117. See ante,yo\, I. Pt.ni. ch. iv. p. 351. ^ 3Iahmoanso, ch. xxx. p. 179, See also ch. xxxviii. p. 258. Cu.vr. IV.] MANUFACTURES. 453 duce tlio knowledge and practice of handicrafts amongst the native population. According to the story, these were goldsmiths, blacksmiths, brass-founders, carpenters, and stone-cutters.^ The legend is given wdth more particularity in an historical notice of the Chaha caste, "written by Adrian Eajapaxa, one of their chiefs, who describes these immigrants as Peskare Brahmans, who were at first employed in weaving gold tissues for the queen, but Avho afterwards abandoned that art for agriculture. A fresh company were said to have been invited in t]ie reign of Devenipiatissa, and Avere the progenitors of " Saleas, at present called Clialias," wdio inhabit the country between Galle and Colombo, and who, along "vvith their ostensible occupation as peelers of cinna- mon, still employ themselves in the labours of the loom.^ All handicrafts are conventionally regarded by the Singhalese as the occupations of an inferior class ; and a man of high caste woidd submit to any privation rather than stoop to an occupation dependent on manual skill. Pottery. — One of the most ancient arts, the making of earthenware vessels, exists at the present day in all its pristine simplicity, and the "potter's wheel," which is kept in motion by an attendant, whilst the hands of the master are engaged in shaping the clay as it revolves, is the primitive device which served a similar purpose amongst the Egyptians and Hebrews.^ A " potter" is enumerated in the list of servants and tradesmen attached to the temple on the Eock of ]\iihin- tala, A.D. 262, along with a sandal-maker, blacksmiths, carpenters, stone-cutters, goldsmiths, and " makers of 1 Valenttw, 0ml en Kiexo Oost- Inclien, chap. iv. p. 267. ^ A History of the Ch alias, by Adman Rajapaxa. Asiatic Res. 3fahawanso, B.C. 101, ch. xxix. p, 173 : the iillusion is to " new earthen vases," aucl shows that the people at that time, like the Iliudus of to- vol. vii. p. 440. lb., vol. x. p. 82. day, avoided where possible the re- 3 Pottery is mentioned in the | peated use of the same vessel. G G 3 454 SCIENCES AND SOCIAL ARTS. [rART IV. strainers" through which the water for the priests was filtered, to avoid taking away the life of animalcul£B. The other artisans on the estabhshnient were chiefly those in charge of the buildings, lime-burners, plasterers, white-washers, painters, and a chief builder. Glass. — Glass, the knowledge of which existed in Egypt and in India \ was introduced into Ceylon at an early period ; and in the Diipawanso^ a work older than the Mahawanso by a century and a half, it is stated that Saidaitissa, the brother of Dutugaimunu, when com- pleting the Euanwelle dagoba, which his predecessor had commenced, surmounted it with a " glass pinnacle." This was towards the end of the second century before Christ. Glass is frequently mentioned at later periods ; and a " glass mkror " is spoken of ^ in the third century before Christ, but how made, whether by an amalgam of quicksilver or by colouring the under surface, is not recorded. Leather. — The tanning of leather from the hide of the buffalo was imderstood so far back as the second cen- tury before Christ, and " coverings both for the back and the feet of elephants " were then formed of it.^ Wood-carviiig. — Cmrwivig in sandal-wood and inlaying with ivory, of which latter material " state fans and thrones" were constructed for the Brazen Palace*, are amongst the mechanical arts often alluded to ; and during the period of prosperity which signalised the era of the " Great Dynasty," there can be little doubt that skilled artificers were brought from India to adorn the cities and palaces of Ceylon. Chemical Arts. — A rude knowledge of chemical ma- ^ Dr. Eoyle's Lectures cm the Arts and Manufactures of India, 1852, p. 221. Pliny says the glass of India being made of pounded crystal, none btlier can compare with it. (Lib. xxxvi. c. QQ>.) ^ Mahawanso, cb. sv. p. 99, ch, XXX. p. 182. 3 Ibid., ch. XXV. p. 152, ch. xxix. p. 169. 4 Ihid, ch. xxvii. p. 1G3, 164. Cii.vr. IV.] MANUFACTURES. 455 iiipulatiou was required for the extraction of camphor' and the preparation of numerous articles spcciiied amongst the productions of the island, aromatic oils^, perfumes^, and vegetable dyes. Sugar. — Sugar was obtained not only from the Palmyra and Kittool palms ^, but also from the cane ; which, besides being a native of India, was also indigenous in Ceylon.^ A " sugar mill " for expressing its juice existed in the first century before Christ in the district of the " Seven Corles," ^ where fifteen hundred years after- wards a Dutch governor of the island made an attempt to restore the cultivation of sugar. Mineral Paints. — Mineral preparations were made with success. Eed lead, orpiment, and vermihons are mentioned as pigments ; but as it is doubtful whether Ceylon produces quicksilver, the latter was probably imported from China'' or India, where the method of preparing it has long been known. There is hkewise sufficient evidence in these and a number of other preparations, as well in the notices of perfumes, camphor, and essential oils, to show that the Singhalese, hke the Hindus, had a very early acquaint- ance mth chemical processes and with the practice of * Rajaratnacari, p. 133. Dr. EoTLE doubts whether camphor was known to the Hindus at this early period, but " camphor oil " is re- peatedly mentioned in tlie Singhalese chronicles amongst the articles pro- vided for the temples. — Royle's Essay mi Hindoo 3Iedicine, p. 140 ; Rqjavali, p. 190. * Mahmvanso, ch. xxv. p. 157. ^ B.C. 161. 3Iahaioanso, ch. xxx. p. 180. * " Palm sugar," as distinguished fi'om " cane sugar/' is spoken of in the Mahmvanso in the second centmy B.C. ch. xxvii. p. 163. ^ "Cane sugar" is referred to in the Mahawanso B.C. 161, ch, xxvii. p. 162, ch. xxxi. p. 102. ^ A.B. 77. 3Iahawanso, ch. xxxiv. p. 208. ■^ See antCjYol. I. Parti, ch.i.p. 20. n. Both quicksilver and vermilion are mentioned in the Rajaratnacari, p. 51, as being in use in the year 20 B.C. Vermilion is also spoken of B.C. 307 in the Maliawanso, ch. xxvii. p. 162, c. The two passages in which vermiliori is spoken of in the Old Testament, Jerem. xxii. 14, and Ezek. xxiii. 14, both refer to the painting of walls and woodwork, a purpose to which it would be scarcely suitable, were not the article alluded to the opaque bisulphuret of mercury ; and the same remark applies to the vermilion used by the Singhalese. The bright red obtained from the insect coccus (the vermicidus, whence the original term '' vennilion " is said to bo derived) would be too transparent to be so applied. G G 4 456 SCIENCES AND SOCIAL ARTS. [Part IV. distillation, wliicli they retain to the present clay.' The knowledge of the latter they probably acqiui^ed from the Arabs or Chinese. ^ " I was frequently visited by one old man, a priest, "who had travelled through Bengal, Burmah, Siam, and many other countries, and who prided himself on being able to make calomel much better than the Euro- pean doctors, as his preparation did not cause the falling out of the teeth^ soreness of the mouth, or salivation. He leamt the secret from an ancient sage whom he met with in a forest on the continent of India ; and often when listening to him I was reminded of the mysteries and crudities of the alchemists." — Hakdt's Eastern Monachism, Lond. 1850, ch. xxiii. p. 312. 457 CHAP. V. WOEKING IN METALS. Metals. Iron. — Working in metals was early un- derstood in Ceylon. Abundance of iron ore can be extracted from the mountains round Adam's Peak ; the black oxide is found on the eastern shore in the state of iron-sand ; and both are smelted with comparative ease by the natives. Ii^on tools were m use for the dressing of stones ; and in the third century before Christ, the enclosed city of Wijittapoora was secured by an " iron gate." ^ Steel. — The manufacture of arms involved the use of steel, the method of tempering which was derived from the Hindus, by whom the wootz was prepared, of which the genuine blades of Damascus are shown to have been made, the beauty of their figuring being dependent on its peculiar crystaUisation. Ezekiel enumerates amongst the Indian imports of Tyre " bright iron, calamus and cassia." ^ Copper. — Copper was equally in demand, but, hke silver and gold, it is nowhere alluded to as a production of the island. In ancient, as in modern times, therefore, the numerous articles formed from this metal were pro- bably imported from India. The renowned Brazen Palace of Anarajapoora was so named from the quan- tity of copper used in its construction. Bujas Eaja, A. D. 359, covered a building at AttanagaUa with " tiles made of copper, and gilt with gold," ^ and " two boats built of brass," were placed near the Bo-Tree at the capital " to hold food for the priests." * Before the ^ Mahawanso, cli. xxv. p. 152. I ^ Rajaratnacari, p. 73. 2 RoYLE (m tlie Antiquity of Hindoo * Ibid., p. 60. il/wfe'wCjp.OS. Ezekiel, cli.xxvii. 19. I 458 SCIENCES AND SOCIAL AETS. [rAKT IV. Christian era, armour for elephants \ and vessels of large dimensions, cauldrons^, and baths ^, were formed of copper. The same material was used for the lamps, goblets \ kettles, and cooking utensils of tiie monasteries and wiliaras. Bells. — Bells were hung in the palaces^, and bell-metal is amongst the gifts to the temples recorded on the rock at PoUanarrua, A. D. 1187.^ Bronze. — Bronze was cast into figures of Buddha^, and the Mahawanso, describing the reign of Dhatu-Sena, A. D. 459, makes mention of " sixteen bronze statues of virgins having the power of locomotion." ^ Lead. — Lead was used during the wars of Dutugai- munu and Elala, and poured molten over the attacldng elephants dming the siege of Wijittapoora.^ As lead is not a native product of Ceylon, it must have been brought thither from Ava or Malwa. Gold and Silver. — Ceylon, hke the continent of India, produces no silver and gold, save in the scantiest quan- tities.^^ The historical books, in recording the splendoiu- of the temples and their riches, and the wealth lavished by the kings upon the priesthood, describe in perpetually recurring terms, the multitude of ornaments and vessels made of silver and gold. In early times the most pre- cious of these were received as gifts from the princes of India, and in the second century before Christ the Maha- wanso records the arrival of ships in the south of the island, " laden with golden utensils." The import of these might possibly have been a relic of the early trade with the Phoenicians, Avhom Homer, in a passage quoted 1 RajavaU, p. 214. 2 B.C. 204. RajavaU, p. 190. ^ A.D. 1267. Rajaratnacari, p. 104. * Rajaratnacari, pp. 104, 134. ^ MaJunvanso, ch. xxi. pp. 128, 129. 6 TuRNOtTR's E2ntome, Sfc, Appx. ' A.D. 275. 31ahawanH0, ch. xxxvii. p. 230 ; RajavaU; p. 135. ^ 3Iahaivanso, ch. xxxviii. p. 257. ^ Maliawanso, ch. xxv. p. 152. '° Amongst the miracles which signalised the construction of the Ruanwell6 dagoba at Auarajapoora was the sudden appearance in a locality, to the north-east of the capital of '' sprouts " of gold above and below the ground, and of silver in the vicinity of Adam's Peak. — ■ Mahaivanso, ch. xxviii. pp. 16G, 167. Chap. V.] WORKING IN METALS. 459 by Strabo (1. xvi. c. 2. s. 24.), describes as making these cups, and carrpng across the sea for sale in the great emporiums \dsited by these ships. ^ A variety of articles of silver are spoken of at very early periods. Dutu- gaimunu, when building the great dagoba, caused the chcle of its base to be described by " a pair of com- passes made of silver, and pointed with gold ; " ^ parasols, vases, caranduas and numerous other regal or relisiious paraphernalia, were made from this precious material. Gold was appUed in every possible form and combination to the decoration and furnishing of the edifices of Bud- dliism ; — " trees of gold with roots of coral," ^ flowers formed of gems with stems of silver ^, fringes of bulhon mixed with pearls ; umbrellas, shields, chams, and jew- elled statuettes ^, are described with enthusiasm by the annalists of tlie national worship. The abundance of precious stones naturally led to their being extensively mounted in jewelry, and in addition to those found in Ceylon, diamonds ^ and lapis lazuh " (which must have been brought thither from India and Persia) are classed with the sapplure and the topaz, which are natives of the island. The same passion existed then, as now, for covering the person with ornaments ; gold, silver, and gems were fashioned into rings for the ears, the nose, the fingers, and toes, into plates for the forehead, and chains for the neck, into armlets, and bracelets, and anklets, and into decorations of every possible form, not only for the women, but for men, and, above all, for the cliildren of both sexes. The poor, unable to indulge in the luxury of precious metals, found substitutes in shells and glass ; and the extravagance of the taste was de- * Mahawanso, ch. xxii. p. 153. I from the MediteiTanean, is found in 'Aiyi^iot «?--!T?{a nTuy/j.-iov .... Small fragments on the sea-shore . . . 2;S»£,- ,ro>.vb^:hc.?.o. vT mK-^^a.,, wQxWx of Poiut-de-Galle Srv-irav h'iv >.if^ivitr:'Eolian hai-p was meant, or some arrangement of ANUIENT EGYPTIAN AND MODERN SIN- GHALESE TOM-TOM BEATERS. strings calcidated to elicit similar sounds: — '' The king Prakrama built a palace at the city of Pollanarrua ; and the stone works were carved in the shape of flowers and creeping- plants, loith f/olden networks which f/nve harmonious sounds as if they toere nioved by the air.'''' 4 47-2 Sl'iEXCES AND SOCIAL ARTS, [Part IV. books ill regular notation ; tlie gamut, which was termed septa souere^ consisting of seven notes, and ex- pressed not by signs, but in letters equivalent to their pronunciation, sa^ ri, ga, me, qa, de, ni} At the present day, harmony is still superseded by sound, the singing of the Singhalese being a nasal whine, not unhke that of the Arabs. Flutes, almost insusceptible of modulation, chanks, which give forth a piercing scream, and the overpowering roll of tom-toms, con- stitute the music of the temples ; and all day long the women of a family will sit round a species of timbrel, called rabani, and produce from it the most monotonous, but to then* ear, most agreeable noises, by drumming with the fingers. Painting. — -Painting, wdiether historical or imaginative, is only mentioned in connection with the decoration of temples, and no examples survive of sufficient antiquity to exhibit the actual state of the art at any remote period. But enough is known of the trammels imposed upon all art, to show that from the earliest times, imagi- nation and invention were prohibited by the priesthood ; and although execution and facility may have varied at dilTerent eras, design and composition were stationary and unalterable. Like the priesthood of Egypt, those of Ceylon regu- lated the mode of delineating the effigies of their divine teacher, by a rigid formulary, with which they com- bined corresponding directions for the drawing of the human figure in connection with sacred subjects. In the relics of Egy[:>tian painting and sculpture, we find "that the same formal outhne, the same attitudes and postures of the body, the same conventional modes of representing the different parts, were adhered to at the latest, as at the earhest periods. No improvements were admitted ; no attempts to copy nature or to give an air of action to tlie limbs. Certain rules and certain ' JoiNVlLLE, Asiat. Rcseavcltes, vol. vii. p. 488, CllAP. VII.] THE riJVE AKTS. 473 models had been established by law, and the faulty con- ceptions of early times were copied and pei'petuated by every succeeding artist." ^ The same observations apj)ly, almost in the same terms, to the paintings of the Singhalese. The historical delineations of the exploits of Gotama Buddha and of his disciples and attendants, which at the present day cover the walls of the temples and wihai'as, follow, with rigid minuteness, })re-existing illustrations of the sacred narratives. They appear to have been copied, Avith a devout adherence to colour, costume, and detail, fiom designs which from time immemorial have represented the same subjects ; and emaciated ascetics, chstorted devotees, beatified simpletons, and malefactors in torment are depicted with a painful fidelity, aldn to modern pre-Eaphaehtism. Owino- to this discourarrement of hivention, one series of pictures is so servile an imitation of another, that design has never improved in Ceylon ; one scene is but the facsimile of a previous one, and each may almost be regarded as an exponent of the state of the art at any preceding period.^ ^ SiK Ctakdxee Wilkinson's ^«- cieni Eyyptkms, vol. iii. cli. x. p. 87, 2(54. ^ The Egyptians and Singhalese were not, however, the only authori- ties who overwhelmed invention by ecclesiastical conventionalism. The early artists of Greece were not at liberty to follow the bent of their o%ATi genius, or to depart from esta- blished regulations in representing the figures of the gods. In the middle ages, the influence of the clim-ches, both of Rome and Byzan- tium, was productive of a similar result ; and although the Latins early emancipated themselves, the painters of the Greek chin-ch, to the present hour, labour under the identical trammels which crippled art at Constantinople a thousand years ago. iM. Didkox, who visited the chiu'ches and monasteries of Greece in 1839, makes the remtirk that " ni le temps ui le lieu ne font rien al'artGrec: auXVIIP siecle, le peintre Moreote continue et caique le peintre Venetien du X*^, le peintre Athonite du V^ ou VI^. Le costume des personnages est partout et en tout temps le meme, uon-seulement pour la forme, mais pour la couleur, mais pour le dessin, mais j usque pour le nombre et Tepaissem- des plis. On ne saurait pousser plus loin Texactitude traditionnelle, I'es- clavage du passe." { flannel iTIcono- (jruphle Chrctlenne Grvcque et Latin, p. ix.) The explanation of this fiict is striking. Mount Athos is the grand manufactory of pictures for the Greek chmx-hes throughout the world; and M. Didron found the artists producing, with the servility 474 SCIENCES AND SOCIAL ARTS. [Part IV. Hence even the most modern embellishments m the temples have an air of remote antiqnity. The colonrs are tempered with gnm ; and but for their inferiority in drawing the human figure, as compared wdth the Egyptians, and their defiance of the laws of perspective, their inharmonious tints, coupled with the whiteness of the ground-work, would remind one of similar pecu- liarities in the paintings in the Thebaid, and the caves of Beni Hassan. Fa Hian describes in the fourth century precisely the same series of subjects and designs which are deh- neated in the temples of the present day, and taken from the transformation of Buddha. With hundreds of these, he says, painted in appropriate colours and ex- ecuted in imitation of fife, the king caused both sides of the road to be decorated on the occasion of religious processions.^ and almost the rapidity of maclii- neiy, endless facsimiles of pictiu'es in rigid conformity with a recognised code of instructions drawn up under ecclesiastical authority and entitled 'Epprii'iid rijg Zioypai! ikijc, " The Guide for Painting," a literal trans- lation of which lie has pviblished. This very curious manuscript con- tains minute directions for the figures, costume, and attitude of the sacred characters, and for the pre- paration of many hundreds of histo- rical subjects required for the de- coration of churches. The artist, when solicited by M. Didron to sell " cette bible de son art," na- ively refused, on the simple gi-onnd that " s'il se depouillait de ce livre, il ne poun-ait plus rien faire ; en perdant son Guide, il perdait son art, il perdait ses yeux et ses mains " (ib. p. xxiii.). It was not till the fifteenth century that the painters of Italy shook themselves free of the authority of the Latin church in matters of art. The second council of Nice arrogates to the Roman church tlie authority in such mat- ters still retained by the Greek j " non est imaginum stinictm-a picto- rum inventio sed ecclesiae catholicfe probata legislatio et traditio." In Spain, the sacro-pictorial law, under the title of Pictor Ckristiamis, was promulgated, in 1730, by Fray Juan de Ayala, a monk of the order of jNIercy ; and such subjects are dis- cussed as the shape of the true cross ; whether one or two angels should sit on the stone by the sepulchre ? and whether the Devil shoidd be drawn with horns and a tail ? In the Na- tional Gallery of London there is a painting of the Holy Family by Be- nozzo Gozzoli, and Sir Charles L. Eastlake has permitted me to see a contract between the painter and his employer A.D. 1461, in which every figure is literally " made to order," its attitude bespoke, and its place in the composition distinctly agreed for. One clause, however, contem- plates progress, and binds the painter to make the piece his chef-d'oeuvre — " che detta dipentm-a exceda ogni buona dipintura infino aqui facto per detto Benozzo." 1 Foe Koue Ki, ch. xxxviii. p. 335, Chai'. VII.] THE FINE ARTS. 475 Amongst the most renowned of the Singhalese masters, was the King Detii Tissa, a.d. 330, "a skilful carver, who executed many arduous undertakings in painting, and taught it to his subjects. He modelled a statue of Buddha so exquisitely that he seemed to have been inspired ; and for it he made an altar, and gilt an echfice inlaid with ivory." ^ Among the presents sent by the King of Ceylon (a.d. 459) to the Emperor of China, the Tsih foo yuen kwei, a chronicle compiled by imperial command, particularises a picture of Buddha.^ The colours employed in decorating their temples are mixed in tempera^ as were those used in the ancient paintings in Egypt ; the claim of the Singhalese to the priority of invention in the mixture of colours with oil, is adverted to elsewhere.^ Sculpture.— 1\\ style Singhalese sculpture was even more conventional and less imaginative than their paint- ing ; since the subjects to which it was confined were ahnost exclusively statues of Buddha^, and its efforts were mere repetitions of the three orthodox attitudes of the great archetype — sitting, as when in deep medi- tation, under the sacred Bo-tree ; standing, as when exhorting his multitudinous disciples ; and reclining, in the enjoyment of the everlasting repose of " nirwana." In each and all of these the details are identical ; the length of the ears, the proportions of the arms, fingers, and toes ; the colour of the eyes, and the curls of the hair ^ being repeated with wearisome iteration. To such ' 3Iahawan.-^o, cli. xxxvii. p. 242. « B. li. p. 7. 3 See the chapter on the Fine Arts, Vol. I. p. 490. * Mention is made of a fif^ure of an elephant {Rajavali, p. 242), and of a horse (3Iahawa)iso, ch. xxxix. TtTRNOini's manuscript translation), and a carved bull as amongst the ruins of Anarajapoora. ^ M. Abel Remitsat has devoted a section of his Mclanyes Adutiques, 1825, vol. i. p. 100, to combating the conjecture of Sir W. Joxes in his third Dissertation on the Hindus, drawn from the cmied or rather the woolly hair represented in his sta- tues, that Ijuddha drew his descent from an African origin. ( Works, vol. i. p. 12.) Another ground for Sir. W. Jones's conjecture was the larf/e ears which are usually characteristic of tlie statues of Buddha. But it is curious that one of tlie peculiar fea- 476 SCIENCES AND SOCIAL ARTS. [Part IV an extent were tliese multiplied, and with an adherence so rigid to the same recognised models, that the Rajavali ventures to ascribe to one king tlie erection of " seventy- two thousand statues of Buddha," an obvious error \ but indicative, nevertheless, that tlie real amount must have been prodigious, in order to obtain credence for the exaggeration. Many other sovereigns are extolled in the national annals, who rendered their reigns iUustrious by the multiphcity of statues which they placed in the temples. It was doubtless from this incessant study of one and the same figure, that the artists of Ceylon attained to a facihty and superiority in producing statues of Buddha, that rendered them famous throughout the countries of Asia, in which his religion prevailed. The early historians of China speak in raptures of w^orks of this kind, obtained from Singhalese sculptors in the fourth and lifth centuries ; they were eagerly sought after by all the surrounding nations ; and one peculiarity in then- execution consisted in so treating the featm-es, that " on standing at about ten paces distant they appeared truly brilhant, but tlie lineaments gradually disappeared on a nearer approach."- The labours of the sculptor and painter were com- bined in producing these images of Buddha, which are always coloured in imitation of hfe, each tint of his complexion and hair being in rehgious conformity Avitli divine authority, and the ceremony of " painting of the eyes,"^ is always observed by the devout Buddhists as a solemn festival. Many of the works ^vhich were tlius executed were either golden^ or gilt, wdth brilliants inserted in the tures ascribed to the Singhalese by the early Greek writers was the possession of pendulous ears, possibly occasioned by their heavy ear-rings. 1 jRaJavali, p. 255. ISIost of these were built of teiTa-cotta and cement covered with chunam, preparatory to being painted. See p. 478. 2 Wei shoo, a " History of the Wei Tai'tar Dynasty," written a.d 590. B. cxiv. p. 9. 2 3Ia]iawanso, ch. Ixxii. ; Upham's version, vol. i. p. 275. ^ 3Iahmv(mso, ch. xxx. pp. 180, 182 ; Majaratnacari, pp. 47, 48 ; lia- javali, p. 237. Chap. VII.] THE 1 IXE ATIT>S. 477 eyes, and the draperies eniiclied with jewels.^ Fa IIian ill the fourth century, speai^s of a iigure of Buddha upwards of twenty-tliree feet in height, formed out of l)hie jasper, and set witli precious stones, that sparkled witli singular splendour, and which bore in its right hand a pearl of priceless value.^ This may possibly have been the statue of which the Mahawmiso speaks in hke terms of admiration : " the eye formed by a jewel from the royal head-dress, each curl of the hair by a sapphire, and the lock in the centre of the forehead by threads of gold." ^ Ivory also and sandal- wood ^, as well as copper and bronze, served as materials for statues ; but granite was the substance most generally selected, except in tlie rare instances where the temple and the statue together were hewn out of the hving rock, on which occasions gneiss was most generally selected. Such are the statues at PoUanarrua, at Mihintala, and at the Aukana Wihara, near Wijittapoora. A still more common expedient, which is employed to the present time, was to form the figiu'es of Buddha wdtli pieces of burnt clay joined together by cement ; and coated with highly pohshed chunam, in order to prepare the surface for the painter. In this manner were most probably produced the " seventy-two thousand statues " ascribed to Mihindo V. Figures of elephants w^ere similarly formed at an early period.^ An image of Buddha so composed in the 12th century, is still standmg at PoUanarrua ^', and every 1 3Iahmoa)iso, cli. xxxviii. p. 258. | ^ a.d. 459. 3Iahau'anso, ch. xxxviii. Parmi toutes les clioses preci euses qu'on y voit, il y a une image de jaspe bleu liaute de deux tchang : tout son corps est forme des sept clioses pvecieuses ; elle est etiucel- lante de splendeuretplus majestueuse qu'on ne saiu-ait Texprimer. Dans la main droite elle tient une perle p. 258. Another statue of gold, witli the features and members appropri- ately coloured in gems, is spoken of in the second century B.C. {Mahmvanso, ch. XXX. p. 180.) * Rajaratnacari, p. 72. ^ A.D. 432. Rajaratnacari, p. 74. Possibly the ''standing figure d'un prix inestimable." — Fve Koite ' of Buddha" mentioned in the Rqfa Ki, ch. xxxviii. p. 0:33. vali, p. 253 478 SCIEK'CES AND SOCIAL ARTS. [Part IV. temple lias one or more effigies, either sedent, erect, or recumbent, carefully modelled in cemented clay, and coloured after life. Architecture. — In Ceylon, as in Eg}^3t, Assyria, and India, the ruins which survive to attest the character of ancient architecture are exclusively sacred, with the exception of occasional traces of the residences of theo- cratic royalty ; but everything has perished which could have afforded an idea of the dwellings and domestic architecture of the people. The cause of this is to be traced in the perishable nature of the sun-dried clay, of which the walls of the latter were composed. Added to this, in Ceylon there were the pride of rank and the pretensions of the priesthood, which, whilst they led to lavish expenditure of the wealth of the king- dom upon palaces and monuments, and the employment of stone in the erection of temples ^ and monasteries, for- bade the people to construct their dwelhngs of any other material than sun-baked earth. ^ This practice continued to the latest period ; and nothing struck the British army of occupation with more surprise on entering the city of Kancly, after its capture in 1815, than to find the palaces and temples alone constructed of stone, whilst the streets and private houses were formed of mud and thatch. Though stone is abundant in Ceylon, it was but sparingly used in the ancient buildings. Squared stones ^ were occasionally employed, but large slabs seldom occur, except in the foundations of dagobas. The vast quantity of material required for such struc- tures, the cost of quarrying and carriage, and the want of mechanical aids to raise ponderous blocks into position, naturally led to the substitution of bricks for the upper portion of the superstructure. There is evidence to show that wedges were employed 1 Rajaratnacari, pp. 78, 79. I ^ Rqjavali, p. 210; Valenttn, Ond ^ Rajavali, p. 222. | eti Nieuw Oost-Indien, ch, iii. p. 45. Chap. VII.] THE FIXE AKTS. 479 in detacliiug tlie blocks in the quarry, and tlie amount of labour devoted to the preparation of those in Avhich strength, irrespective of ornament, was essential, is shown in the remains of the sixteen hundred undressed piUars^ which supported the Brazen Palace at Anara- japoora, and in the eighteen hundred stone steps, many of them exceeding ten feet in length, which led from the base of the mountain to the very summit of IMihin- tala. A single piece of granite lies at Anarajapoora hollowed into an " elephant trough," with ornamental pilasters, which measures ten feet in length by six wide and two deep ; and amongst the ruins of PoUanarrua a still more remarkable slab, twenty-five feet in length by six broad and two feet thick, bears an inscription of the twelfth century, which records that it was brought from a distance of more than tliuty miles. The majority of the columns at Anarajapoora are of dressed stone, octangular and of extremely graceful proportions. They were used in pro- fusion to form circular colonnades around the principal dagobas, and the vast numbers which still remain up- right, are one of the pecuhar charac- teristics of the place, and justify the expression of Knox, when, speaking of similar groups elsewhere, he calls them a " world of hewn stone piUars." ^ Allusions in the Mahawanso show that extreme care was taken in the preparation of bricks for the dagobas.^ Major Skinnee, whose official duties as engineer to the government have ren- dered him famihar with all parts of Ceylon, assures me that the bricks in ' The Rajavali states that these rough piUars were originally covered with copper, p. 222. ^ Kifox, Relation, vol. v. pt. iv. eh. ii. p. 165. ' Mahaivanso, ch. xxviii. p. 165 ; ch. xxix. p. 109; &c. 480 SCIENCES AXD SOCIAL AUTS. [Part lY every ruin he lias seen, including the dagobas at Ana- raj apoora, Bintenne, and Pollanarrua, have been fired ■with so much skill that exposure through successive centuries has but shghtly affected their sharpness and consistency. The sand for mortar was " pounded, sifted, and ground on a grinding-stone ; " ^ the " cloud-coloured stones, " ^ used to form the immediate receptacle in which a sacred rehc was enclosed, were said to have been imported from India ; and the " nawanita " clay, in which these were imbedded, was believed to have been brought from the mythical Anotattho lake in the Hima- layas.^ Dagobas. — The process of building the Euanwelle dagoba is thus minutely described in the Mahawanso : " That the structure might endure for ages, a foundation was excavated to the depth of one hundred cubits, and the round stones were trampled by enormous elephants, whose feet were protected by leather cases. Over this the monarch spread the sacred clay, and on it laid the bricks, and over them a coating of astringent cement, above this a layer of sand-stones, and on all a plate of iron. Over tliis was a large phohka (crystallised stone), then a plate of brass, eight inches thick, em- bedded in a cement made of the gum of the wood-apple tree, diluted in the water of the small red coco-nut." * The shape of these huge mounds of masonry was originally hemispherical, being that best calculated to prevent the growth of grass or other weeds on objects so 1 llahcncanso, cli. xxx. p. 17o. ^ The " cloud-coloured stone " may possibly have been marble, but no traces of marble have been found in the ruins. Diodorus, in describing some of the monuments of Egypt alludes to a "party-coloured" stone, \t"ov TTovciXni', which likewise remains without identification. — Diodoriis, 1. i. c. Ivii. 3 3Iahawajiso, ch. xxix. p. 109; oil. XXX. p. 179. ■* Mahawanso, ch. xxix. p. 1G9 ; ch. XXX. p. 178. The internal struc- ture of the Sanchi tope at Bilsah in Central India pi-esents the arrange- ment here described, the bricks beintf laid in mud, but externally it is faced with dressed stone. CiiAr. VIL] THE FINE ARTS. 4S1 sacred. Dutugaimunii, according to the Mahawanso, when about to build the Euanwelle dagoba, consulted a mason as to the most suitable form, who, "iiUing a golden dish ^vith water, and taking some in the palm of his hand, caused a bubble in the form of a coral bead to rise on the surface ; and he replied to the king, ' In this form will I construct it. ' " ^ Two dagobas at Anarajapoora, the Abay-a-gui and Jeyta-wana-rama, still retain their original outhne, — the Euanwelle, from age and decay, has partly lost it, — and the Thupa-ramaya is flattened on the top as if suddenly brought to a close, and the Lanka-ramaya is shaped hke a bell. Monasteries and Wiharas. — Accordins; to the annals of Ceylon the construction of dwelhngs for the de- votees of Buddha preceded the erection of temples for his worship. Originally the anchorite selected a cave or some shelter in the forest as his place of repose or meditation.^ In the Rajavali Devenipiatissa is said to have " caused caverns to be cut in the sohd rock at the sacred place of Mihintala ; " ^ and these are the earliest residences for the higher orders of the priest- hood in Ceylon, of which a record has been preserved. A less costly substitute was found in tlie erection of detached huts of the rudest construction, in which may be traced the embryo of the Buddhist mon- astery ; and the king Walagambahu was the first, B.C. 89, to gather these scattered residences into groups and " build wiharas in unbroken ranges, conceiving that thus theu' repau-s would be more easily ef- fected. " ^ 1 3Iahmoanso, cli. xxx. p. 175. Tliis leo-end as to tlie origin of the semicircular form of the dngoba is at variance with the conjectiu-e of Major Forbes, that these vast structures were merely au advance on the mounds of eai"tli similar to the barrow of rialyattes, which in the progi-ess of the constructive arts, came to be con- verted into brickworlv. — Eleven Years in Cej/Ion, v. i. p. 222. 2 Mahawanso, c. xxx. p. 174. 3 Rdjavali, p. 184. * 3IahawansOj ch. xxxiii. p. 207. VOL. I. 1 I 482 SCIENCES AND SOCIAL ARTS. [Part IV. Simplicity and retirement were at all times the cha- racteristics of these retreats, which rarely aspired to architectural display ; and the only recorded instance of extravagance in this particular was the " Brazen Palace " at Anarajapoora, with its sixteen hundred columns ; an echfice which, though nominally a dwelhng for the priest- hood, appears to have been in reality a vast suite of halls for theu- assembhes and festivals, and a sanctuary for the safe custody of their jewels and treasure. ^ AUusions are occasionally made to other edifices more or less fantastic in theu* design and structure, such as " an apartment built on a single pillar," ^' a " house of an octangular form," built in the 12th century^, and another of an " oval, " shape ^, erected by Prakrama I. Palaces. — The royal residences as they were first constructed, must have consisted of very few chambers, since mention is made in the Maliawanso of the ear- liest, which contained " many apartments, " having been built by Pandukiibhaya, B.C. 437.^ But within two centuries afterwards, Dutugaimunu conceived the mag- nificent idea of the Loha Pasada, with its quadrangle one hundred cubits square, and a thousand dormitories with ornamental windows. ^ This palace was in its turn surpassed by the castle of Prakrama I. at Polla- narrua, which, according to the 3Iahawa?iso, " was seven stories high, consisting of five thousand rooms, Hned ^ Mahawanso, cli. xxvii. p. 1G3. Like the " niiie-storied " pagodas of China, the palace of " the Lowa Maya Paya" was originally nine stories in height, and Fergnsson, from the analogy of Buddhist buildings in other countries, supposes that these diminished in succession as the build- ing arose, till the outline of the whole assumed the form of a pp-amid. (Handbook of Arcliitecture, b. i. ch. iii. p. 44.) In this he is undoubtedly correct, and a building still existing, though in ruins, at Pollauarrua^ and known as the Sat-inal-pasado, or the " seven-storied palace" pro1:)ably built by Prakrama, about the year 1170, serves to support his conjecture. See a description of it, part x. ch. i. vol. ii. * B.C. 504, Mahaioanso, ch. ix. p. 5G ; ch. Ixxii. Upham's version, p. 274. 3 Rajaratnacari, p. 105. ^ Mahawanso, ch. Ixxii. Upham's version, p. 274. '•> Ibid., ch. x. p. 60. ° Ibid., ch. xxvii. p. 163. Chap. VII.] THE PINE ARTS. 483 Avith hundreds of stone columns, and outer halls of an oval shape, with large and small gates, staircases, and ghttering walls." ^ In what now remains of these buildings at Anaraja- poora, there is no trace to be found of an arch, truly- turned and secured by its keystone ; but at Pollanarrua there are several examples of the false arch, produced by the progressive projection of the layers of brick. ^ The finest specimens of ancient brickwork are to be seen amongst the ruins of the latter city, where the ma- terial is compact and smooth, and the edges sharp and unworn. The mortar shows the remains of the pearl oyster-sheUs from which it was burnt, and the chunam with which the walls were coated, still chngs to some of the towers, and retains its angularity and polish.^ Of the details- of external and internal decoration apphed to these builchngs, descriptions are given which attest a perception of taste, however distorted by the exa2:G!:erations of oriental desisfu. " Gilded tiles " ^ in their bright and sunny atmosphere, must have had a striking effect, especially when surmounting walls de- corated with beaded mouldings, and festooned with " carvings in imitation of creeping plants and flowers." ° Carving in stone. — Carving appears to have been practised at a very early period with singular success ; but in later times it became so deteriorated, that there is httle difficulty at the present day, in pronouncing on the superiority of the specimens remaining at Anaraja- poora, over those which are to be found amongst the ruins of the later capitals, Pollanarrua, Yapahu, or Korneo^alle. The author of the Mahawanso dwells ^ Mahawanso, cb. Ixxii. Upham's version, p. 274:. ^ FoRBEs's Eleven Yectrs in Ceylon, vol. i. cli. xvii. p. 414. ' Expve.ssious in the 31ithawunm, ch. xxvii. p. 104; show that as early I I I as the 2nd centmy, B.C., the Singha- lese were acquainted with this bean- tiful cement, which is susceptible of a polish almost equal to marble. * Rajavali, p. 73. ^ Mahuwanso, ch. Ixxii. p. 274. 484 SCIENCES AND SOCIAL AETS. [Part IV. with obvious satisfaction on liis descriptions of the " stones covered with flowers and creeping plants."^ Animals are constantly introduced in the designs exe- cuted on stone, and a mythical creature, called tech- nically makara-torana^ is conspicuous, especially on door- ways and balustrades, with the head of an elephant, tlie teeth of a crocodile, the feet of a lion, and the tail of a fish. At tlie entrance to the great wiliara, at Anarajapoora, there is now lying on the groimd a semi-circular slab of granite, the ornaments of which are designed in ex- cellent taste, and executed with singular skill ; elephants, hons, horses, and oxen, forming the outer border ; that within consisting of a row of the " hanza," or sacred goose ; a bird that is equally conspicuous on the vast tablet, one of the wonders of Pollanarrua, before aUuded to.2 Taken in connection with the proverbial contempt for the supposed stolidity of the goose, there is something still unexplained in the extraordinary honours paid to it by the ancients, and the veneration in which it is held to the present day by some of the eastern nations. The figure that occurs so frequently on Buddliist monu- ments, is the Brahmanee goose (casarka rutila), which is not a native of Ceylon ; but from time immemorial has been an object of veneration there and in all parts of India. Amongst the Buddhists especially, impressed as they are with the solemn obhgation of sohtary reth^ement for meditation, the hanza has attracted attention by its periodical migrations, which are supposed to be directed to the holy Lake of Manasa, in the mythical regions of the Himalaya. The poet Kalidas, in his Cloud Mes- senger, speaks of the hanza as " eager to set out for the ^ Muhawanso, cli. Ixxii. p. 274, Upham's Tersion. " A sketch of this stone will be seen in the engraving of the Sat-mal- prasada, in the account of Pollanarrna. Part I. eh. i. vol. ii. Chap. VII.] THE FINE ARTS. 485 Sacred Lake." Hence, according to the Rajavali, the hon was pre-eminent amongst beasts, "the hanza was kino- over aU tlie feathered tribes." ^ In one of the Jatakas, which contains the legend of Buddha's apotheosis, his hair, when suspended in the sky, is de- scribed as resembhng "the beautiful Kala hanza." ^ The goose is, at the present day, the national emblem emblazoned on the standard of Burmah, and the brass weights of the Burmese are generally cut in the shape of the sacred bird, just as the Eg}^3tians formed their weights of stone after the same model.^ AuGUSTiXE, in his Civitas Dei, traces the respect for the goose, displayed by the Eomans, to their gratitude for the safety of the capital ; when the vigilance of this bird defeated the midnight attack by the Goths. The adulation of the citizens, he says, degenerated afterwards almost to Eg}^3tian superstition, in the rites instituted in honour of their preservers on that occasion.^ But the very fact that the geese which saved the citadel were already sacred to Juno, and domesticated in her temple, demonstrates the error of Augustine, and shows that they had acquired mythological eminence, before FKOM THE BDEMliSE STANDARD. ^ Rajavali, p. 149. The Maha- wan'IC f«i ■Kpu(TTijp(»v tariv airoTpuTzaioQ. K«i iStlv avTov Tavra (fiiiffi (ia^^" «''.'''« ^'»=°''^ , ,„ B. 1 he capital, with the sun on each of the incident to the obhgations c. xhe'spke!' p 1 ii T i1 • • D. The umbrella or chatta, gilt and surrounded OI rnytnm. in tins m- by " chuuibatan,- a diamond drclet. Asgiria (wlio was Ttjrnotjr's in- structor in Pali), Wattegamine Un- nause of Kandy, BuUetgamoue Unnanse of Galle, Batuwantudawe, of Colombo, and De Soyza, tlie trans- lator Moodliar to the Colonial Secre- tary's Office. Mr. De Alwis says, *' The epithet anagyhmi, ' invaluable ' or ' priceless,' immediately preceding and qualifying jvajira in the original (but omitted by Turnour in the translation), shows that a substance far more valuable than glass must have been meant." " Chxmbatan,^' Prof. Wilson supposed to be the Pali equivalent to the Sanslait chxmbakam, " the kisser or attractor of steel ; " the question he says is whether wajira is to be considered an adjective or part of a compound substantive, whether the phrase is a diamond- mof/nct 2}ifi)iac!e, or conductor, or a conductor or attractor of the thunder- holt. In the latter case it would intimate that the Singhalese had a no- tion of lightning conductors. Mr. De Alwis, however, and Mr. Gogerly agree that chumba/ca is the same both in Sanskrit and Pali, whilst chumbate is a Pali compound, which means a circular prop or support, a rinr/ on which something rests, or a roll of cloth formed into a cii'cle to form a stand for a vessel ; so that the term must be consti-ued to mean a diamond circlet, and the passage, transposing the order of the words, will read literally thus : thapapesi tatha muddhani thupassa he placed in like manner on the top of the thui)0 anagghan wajira-chumbatan. a valuable diamond hoop. TuENOUK wrote his translation whilst residing at Kandy and with the aid of the priests, who being ignorant of English could only assist him to Singhalese equivalents for Pali words. Hence he was probably led into the mistake of confounding wajira, which signifies " diamond," or an instrument for cutting diamonds, with the modern word widura, which bears the same import but is colloquially used by the Kandyans for "glass." However, as glass as well as the diamond is an insidator of electi-icity, the force of the passage would be in no degi-ee altered whichever of the two sub- stances was really particidarised. Turnour was eqviaUy imcertaia as to the meaning of chumbatan, which in one instance he has translated a "pinnacle," and in the other he has left without any English equivalent, simply calling " wajira-chimibatan" a " chumbatan of glass." — Maha- wanso, ch, x.\xviii. p. 250. 510 SCIENCES AND SOCIAL AETS. [Part IV. stance, the liistorian, wlio was tlie kinsman and intimate friend of tlie king, by whose order the glass pinnacle was raised in the fifth century, probably felt that the stanza descriptive of the placing of the first of those costly instruments in the reign of Sanghatissa, required some elucidation, and therefore inserted a passage in the " tika," by which his poem was accom- panied, to explain that the motive of its erection was " for the purpose of averting the dangers of lightning." ^ The two passages, taken in conjunction, leave no room for doubt that the object in placing the diamond hoop on the dagoba, was to turn aside the stroke of the thunderbolt. But the question still remains, whether, at that very early period, the people of Ceylon had such a conception, however crude and erroneous, of the nature of elec- tricity, and the relative powers of conducting and non-conducting bodies, as would induce them to place a mistaken rehance upon the contrivance described, as one calculated to ensure their personal safety; or whether, as religious devotees, they presented it as a costly offering to propitiate the mysterious power that con- trols the elements. The thing affixed was however so insignificant in value, compared with the stupendous edifice to be protected, that the latter supposition is scarcely tenable. The dagoba itself was an offering, on the construction of which the wealth of a kingdom had been lavished ; besides which it enshrined the hohest of all conceivable objects — portions of the deified body of ^ The explanatory sentence in the " tika " is as follows : '* Thupassa muddhani tatha nagglia wajira-chimibatanti tathewe niaha thupassa muddhani satasahasaggha nikan maha maniacha patitha petwa tassahetta asani upaddawa widdhansa natthau adhara walayamewa katwa anaggha wajira-chimibatancha puje- seti atho." Mr. De Saram and Mr. De Alwis concur in translating this passage as follows, " In like manner having placed a large gem, of a lac in value, on the top of the gi-eat thupa, he fixed below it, for the imrpose of de- stroying the clangers of lightning, an invaluable diamond chmubatan, hav- ing made it like a supporting ring or circular rest." Words equivalent to those in italics, Mr. TufijroTJE, em- bodied in his translation, but placed them between brackets to denote that they were a quotation. Chap. IX.] LIGIITNmG CONDUCTORS. 511 Gotama Buddha himself ; and if these were not ah-eady secured from the perils of lightning by their own sanctity, their safety could scarcely be enhanced by the adchtion of a diamond hoop. The conjectiu-e is, therefore, forced on us, that the Singhalese, in that remote era, had observed some phy- sical facts, or learned their existence from others, which suggested the idea that it might be practicable, by some mechanical device, to ward off the danger of hghtning. It is just possible that having ascertained that glass or precious stones acted as insulators of electricity, it may have occurred to them that one or both might be employed as preservative agents against hghtning. Modern science is enabled promptly to condemn this reasoning, and to pronounce that the expedient, so far from averting, would fearfully add to, the peril. But in the infancy of all inquiries the observation of effects generally precedes the comprehension of causes, and whilst it is obvious that nothing attained by the Singhalese in the tliuTl century anticipated the great discoveries relative to the electric nature of hghtning, which were not announced till the seventeenth or eighteenth, we cannot but feel that the contrivance described in the Mahawanso was one likely to originate amongst an iU-informed people, who had witnessed certain phenomena the causes of which they were un- able to trace, and from which they were mcapable of deducing any accurate conclusions.^ ' I b ave been told tbat within a I sunnount tbe ligbtning conductors comparatively recent period it was of tbe Admiralty and some other customary in this coim try, from some Government buildings "witb a glass motive not altogether apparent, to summit. 512 SCIENCES AND SOCIAL ARTS. [Part IV. CHAP. X. SINGHALESE LITEEATURE. The literature of the ancient Singhalese derived its character from the hierarchic ascendency, which was fostered by then* government, and exerted a prepon- derant influence over the temperament of the people. The Buddhist priesthood were the depositories of all learning and the dispensers of all knowledge : — by the obhgation of their order the study of the classical Pah ^ Avas rendered compulsory upon them^, and the books wliich have come down to us show that they were at the same time famihar with Sanskrit. They were employed by royal command in compihng the national annals^, and kings at various periods not only encom^aged their la- bours by endowments of lands*, but conferred distinction on such pursuits by devoting their own attention to the cultivation of poetry^, and the formation of hbraries. ** The books of the Singhalese are formed to-day, as they have been for ages past, of olas or strips taken from the young leaves of the Tahpat or the Palmyra palm, cut before they have acquh^ed the dark shade and strong texture which belong to the full grown frond. ^ ^ Pali, whicli is tlie language of Buddliist literature in Siam, Ava, as well as in Ceylon, is, according to Dr. INIiLL, "no other than the Ma- gadha Pracrit, the classical form in ancient Behar of that very peculiar modification of Sanskrit speech which enters as largely into the drama of the Hindus, as did the Doric dialect into the Attic tragedy of Ancient Greece." In 1826 MM. Btjunottf and Lassek published their learned " Essai sur le Pali,'''' but the most am- ple light was thrown upon its struc- ture and history by the subsequent investigations of Turnotjr, who, in the introduction to his version of the Maliaioanso, has embodied a dis- quisition on the antiquity of Pali as compared with Sanskrit (p. xxii. &c.). 2 Rajaratnacm-i, p. 106. 3 Ibid., p. 43-74. 4 Ihicl, p. 113. ^ Rajavali, p. 245 ; Mahawanso, eh. liv., Ixxix. ^ Rajavali, p. 244. ■^ The leaves of the Palmyi'a, simi- larly prepared, are used for writings of an ordinaiy kind, but the most valuable books are wi'itten on the Talipat. See ante, Vol, I. Pt. I. ch. iii. p. 110. Chap. X.] rHEPAEATION OF OLAS. 51.3 After undergoing a process (one stage of wliicli consists in steeping them in hot water and sometimes in milk) to preserve their flexlbihty, they are submitted to pressure to render their surface uniformly smooth. They are then cut into stripes of two or three inches in breadth, and from one to three feet long. These are pierced with two holes, one near each end, through which a cord is passed, so as to secure them between two wooden covers, lacquered and ornamented with coloured devices. The leaves thus strung together and secured, form a book. On these palm-leaves the custom is to write with an iron stile held nearly upright, and steadied by a nick cut to receive it in the thumb-nail of the left hand. The stile is sometimes richly ornamented, shaped like an arrow, and inlaid with gold, one blade of the feather serving as a knife to trim the leaf pre- paratory to writing. The case is sometimes made of carved ivory bound with hoops of filigreed silver. The furrow made by the pressure of the steel is ren- dered visible by the apph- cation of charcoal ground with a fragrant oil\ to the odoiu- of which the natives ascribe the remarkable state of preservation in which their most sacred books are found, its aromatic properties securing the leaves from de- struction by white ants and other insects.^ WRITING WITH ASTILF. ^ For this pui-pose a resin is used, called dunutlu by the nati^'es, who dig it up from beneath the sm-face of lauds from which the forest has disappeared. ^ In Ceylon thei-e are a few Budd- hist books brought from Burmah, in which the text is inscribed on plates VOL. I. L of silver. I have seen others on leaves of ivory, and some belonging to the Dalada Wihara, at Kandy, are engi'aved on gold. The earliest gTants of lands, called saunas, were written on palm-leases, but an in- scription on a rock at Dambool, which is of the date 1200 a.d., re- 514 SCIENCES AND SOCIAL ARTS. [Part IV. Tlie wiharas and monasteries of the Buddhist priest- hood are the only depositaries in Ceylon of the national hterature, and in these are to be found quantities of ola books on an infinity of subjects, some of them, especially those relating to rehgion and ecclesiastical liistory, being of the remotest antiquity. Works of the latter class are chiefly WT^itten in Pah. Treatises on astronomy, mathematics, and physics are almost exclusively in Sanslmt, whilst those on general literature, being comparatively recent, are composed in Elu, a dialect which differs from the colloquial Sin- ghalese rather in style than in structure, having been liberally enriched by incorporation fi'om Sanskrit and Pah.^ But of the works which have come down to us, ancient as weU as modern, so great is the pre- ponderance of those in Pah and Sanskrit, that the Singhalese can scarcely be said to possess a hterature in their national dialect ; and in the books they do pos- sess, so utter is the dearth of invention or originality, that almost all which are not either baUads or compilations, are translations from one or other of the two learned languages. I. Pali. — Works in Pah are written, hke those of Burmah and Siam, not in Nagari or any pecuhar character, but in the vernacular alphabet. Of these, as might naturally be expected, the vast majority are on subjects connected with Buddhism, and next to them in point of number are grammars and grammatical com- mentaries. The oiiginal of the great Pali grammar of Kachcha- cords that King Prakrama Bahii I. made it a rule that '' Vvdien pei'inaneut grants of land were to be made to those who had performed meritorious services, such behests should not be evanescent like lines drawn on water, by being inscribed on leaves to be destroyed by rats and white ants, but engraved on plates of copper, so as to endure to posterity'." 1 Tuknoije's Introd. to the 3Iaha- wanso, p. xiii. A critical accoimt of the Elu wiU be fomid in an able and learned essay on the language and literature of Ceylon by Mr. J. De Alwis, prefixed to his English, translation of the Sidath Sam/ara, a grammar of Singhalese, written in the fourteenth century. Colombo, 1852, Introd. p. xxvii. xxxvii. Chap. X.] LITERATUEE. 515 yano is now lost, but its principles survive in nu- merous treatises, and text-books written at succeeding periods to replace it.^ Sucli is the passion for versifi- cation, probably as an assistant to memory, that nearly every Singhalese work, ancient as well as modern, is com- posed in rhyme, and even the repulsive abstractions of Syntax have found an Alvarez and been enveloped in metrical diso-iiise. Of the sacred writings in Pah, the most renowned are the Pitakattayan, hterally " The Three Baskets," wliicli embody the doctrines, discourses, and discipline of the Buddhists, and so voluminous is this collection that its contents extend to 592,000 stanzas ; and the Atthakatha or commentaries, which are as old as the fifth century '\ contain 361,550 more. From their voluminousness, the Pittakas are seldom to be seen complete, but there are few of the superior temples in which one or more of the separate books may not be found. The most popular portion of the Pittakas are the legendary tales, which profess to have been related by GoTAMO Buddha himself, in his Sutras or discourses, and were collected under the title of Paiisiya-paiias-jataka- pota, or the "Five hundred and fifty Births." The series is designed to commemorate events in his own career, during the states of existence through which he passed preparatory to his reception of the Buddhahood. In 1 The Rev. R. S pence Hardy, to ■wliom I am iudebted for much valu- able iufoi'uiation ou the subject of the literature eurreut at the present day iu Ceylon, published a list in the Journal of the Ceylon Branch of the Asiatic Society for 1848, in which he gave the titles of 4G7 works in Pali, Sanski-it, and Elu, collected by him- self during his residence in Ceylon. Of these about 80 are in Sanskrit, 150 in Elu (or Singhalese), and the remainder in Pali, either with or without translations. f)f the Pali books 26 are either gTammars or treatises on gi-ammar. This catalogue of Mr. Hardv is. however, by no means to be re- garded as perfect ; not only because several are omitted, but because many are l)ut excerpts from larger works. The titles are seldom de- scriptive of the contents, but in true Oriental taste are drawn from emblems and figures, such as " Light," " Gems," and " Flowers." The au- thors' names are rarely kno^ii, and the_ language or style seldom aftbrds an indication of the age of the com- position. ^ They were translated into Pali from Singhalese by Buddhaghoso, A.D. 420. — 3Iahawanso, c. xxxvii. p. 252. L I 2 516 SCIENCES AXD SOCIAL AKTS. [Part IV. structure and contents it bears a striking resemblance to the Jewish Tahnud, combining, with aphorisms and maxims, philological explanations of the divine text, stories illustrative of its doctrines, into which not only saints and heroes, but also animals and inanimate ob- jects, are introduced, and not a few of the fables that pass as ^sop's are to be found in the Jatakas of Ceylon. There are translations into Singhalese of the greater part of its contents, and so attractive are its narratives that the natives will listen the hvelong night to recitations from its pages. ^ The other Pah works ^ embrace subjects in connection with cosmography and the Buddhist theories of the uni- verse ; the distinctions of caste, topographical narratives, a few disquisitions on medicine, and books which, like the Milindaprasna, or " Questions of Milinda^'' ^ without being canonical give an orthodox summary of the national rehgion. But the chefs d'aiwre of Pali hterature are their chro- nicles, the Dipawanso^ Mahawanso^ and others ; of these the most important by far is the Maliawanso and its tikas or commentaries. It stands at the head of the historical hterature of the East ; unrivalled by any- thing extant in Hindustan *, the Avildness of whose chro- ^ Haudy's BuddMsm, ch. v. p. 98. "^ A lucid account of the principal Pali works in connection with reli- gion A'Nall be found in the Appendix to Hardy's Manual of Buddhism, p. 509, and in Hardy's Eadern MonacMsm, pp. 27, 31.5. 2 The title of this popular work has given rise to a very curious con- jecture of Tumour's. It professes to contain the dialectic controversies of Naga-sena, through whose instru- mentality Buddhism was introduced into Kashmir, with Milinda, who was the Raja of an adjoining comitry, called feagala, near the junction of the rivers Ravi and Chenab. These discussions must have taken place about the year B.C. 43. Now Sagala is identical with Sangala, the people of which, according to Arrian, made a bold resistance to the advance of Alexander the Great bej'ond the Hydraotes; and it has been sup- posed by Sir Alexander Burnes to have occupied the site of Lahore. Its sovereign, therefore, who em- braced the doctrines of Buddha, was probably an Asiatic Greek, and Ttte- NOTJK suggests that the " Yons " or " Yonicas " who, according to the Milinda-prasna, formed his body- guard, were either Greeks or the descendants of Greeks from Ionia. — Joiirn. Aaiat. Soe. Bene/. \. 523 ; Haedy's Manual of Buddhism, p. 512; Reinaud, 3Iemoire sur VInde, p. 65. * Lassen, Indis. Alt., vol. ii. p. 13 —15. HAi'. X.] LITERATURE. 517 nolooy it controls ; and luisnrpassed, if it be equalled, by the native annals of China or Kashmir. So conscious were the Singhalese kings of the value of this national monument, that its continuation was an object of royal sohcitude to successive dynasties ^ from the third to the thirteenth century ; and even in the decay of the monarchy the compilation was performed in A. d. 1696, by an unknown hand, and, finally, brought down to A. D. 1758 by order of one of the last of the Kandyan kings. Of the chronicles thus carefidly constructed, which exhibit in their marvellously preserved leaves the study and elaboration of upwards of twelve hundi-ed years, Prinsep, supreme as an authority, declared that they served to " clear away the chief of dif- ficulties m Indian genealogies, which seem to have been intentionally falsified by the Biahmans and thrown back into remote antiquity, in order to confound their Buddhist rivals." '^ But they display in their mysterious rhpnes few facts or revelations to repay the ordinary reader for the labour of their perusal. Written exclusively by the Buddiiist priesthood, they present the meagre cha- racteristics of the soulless system which it is their purpose to extol. No occurrence finds a record in tlieir pages which does not tend to exalt the genius of Buddhism or commemorate the acts of its patrons : the reigns of the monarchs who erected temples for its worship, or consecrated shrines for its rehcs, are traced with tu'esome precision ; even where their accession ' CosmasIndico-pleustes, Edrist, Abou-zetd, and almost all the tra- vellers and geographers of the middle ages, have related, as a trait of the native rulers of Ceylon, their em- ployment of annalists to record the history of the kingdom. — Edeisi, dim. i. sec. 8, p. 3. * Pbinsep, in a private letter to L I. 3 Turnour, in 1836, speaking of the singular value of the JIahawanso in collating the chronology of India, says, " had yom* Buddhist chronicles been accessible to Sir W. Jones and Wilford, they would have been greedily seized to correct anomalies at every step." 518 SCIEXCES AND SOCIAL ARTS. [Part IV. was achieved by usurpation and murder, their hves are extolled for piety, provided they were charac- terised by hberality to the church ; whilst those alone are stigmatised as impious and consigned to long continued torments, whose reigns are undis- tinguished by acts conducive to the exaltation of the national worship.^ The invasions which disturbed the tranquillity of the throne, and the schisms which rent the unity of the chui'ch, are described with painful elaboration ; but we search in vain for any instructive notices of the people or of their pursuits, for any details of tlieir social con- dition or illustration of their intellectual progress. Whilst the commerce of all nations was sweeping along the shores of Ceylon, and the ships of China and Ai'abia were making its ports their emporiums ; the national chronicles, whose compilation was an object of sohcitude to successive dynasties, are silent regarding these adventurous expeditions ; and utterly indifferent to all that did not affect the progress of Buddhism or minister to the interests of the priest- hood.'"^ ^ Asoca, " who put to deatli one hundred brothers," to secure the throne to himself, is described in the Malunvanso, ch. v. p. 21, as a prince " of piety and supernatiu'al wisdom." Even Malabar infidels, who assassi- nated the Buddhist kings, are ex- tolled as " righteous sovereigns " {Blahawmiso, ch. xxi. p. 127) ; but a Buddhist king who caused a priest lo be put to death who was believed to be guilty of a serious crime, is consig-ned by the Eajavali to a hell with a copper roof " so hot that the w^aters of the sea are dried as they roll above it." — Rajavali, p. 192. ^ It has been surmised that in the intercourse which subsisted between India and the western world by way of Alexandria and Persia, and which did not decline till the sixth orjseventh century, the influences of Nestorian Christianity may have left their im- press on the genius and literature of Buddhism ; and in the legends of its historians one is struck by the many passages that suggest a similarity to events recorded in the Jewish Scriptures. The coincidence may also be accoimted for by the close proximity of a Jewish race in AfFghanistan (the descendants of those carried away into captivity by Shalmanasar) which eventually ex- tended itself along the west coast of India, and became the progenitors of the Hebrew colony that still in- habits the south of the Dekkan near Cochin, and are known as the " Black Jews of Malabar." The influence of this immigi-ation is perceptible in the sacred books, both of the Brahmans and Buddhists ; the laws of Menu present some striking resemblances to the law of Moses, and it was pro- bably from a knowledge of the con- Cjiap. X.] LITERATURE. 519 II. Sa^S'SKRIT. — In Sanskrit or translations from it, tlie Singhalese have preserved their principal treatises tents of tlie Hebrewrolls still possessed by this remnaut of the dispersion that the Buddhists borrowed the nume- rous incidents which we find re-pro- duced in tlie historical books of Ceylon, Thus the aborigines, when subdued by tlieir Beng-al invaders, were forced, like the Israelites, by their masters "to make bricks" for the construction of their stupendous edifices (3Iahaivanso, ch. xxviii.). On the occasion of building the great dagoba, the Ruanwelli?, at Anarajapoora, B.C. IGl, the materials were all prepared at a distance, and brought ready to be deposited in their places {MahauHinso, xxvii.) ; as on the occasion of building the first temple at Jerusalem, "the stone was made ready before it was brought, so that there was neither hammer, nor axe, nor any tool of iron heard whilst it was building." The parting of the lied Sea to permit the march of the fugitive Hebrews has its coimter- part in the exploit of the King Gaja Bahu, A.D. 109, who, when marching his army to the coast of India, in order to bring back the Singhalese from captivity in Sollee, " smote the waters of the sea till they parted, so that he and his army marched through without wetting the soles of their feet." — Bqjandnacari, p. 59. King Maha Sen (a.d. 275), seeking a relic, had the mantle of Buddha lowered down from heaven : and Buddha had, previously', in designating Kas- yapa as his successor, transmitted to liim his robe as Elijah let fall his mantle upon Elisha. (liajavali, p. 238 ; Hardy's Oriental Mona- chisin, p. 119.) There is a resem- blance too bets\'een the apotheosis of Dutugaimunu and the translation of Elijah when " in a chariot and horses of fire he went up into heaven" (2 Kings, ii. 11); — accord- ing to the 3Iahaioanso, ch. xxii. p. 199, when the Singhalese king was dying, a chariot was seen descending from tlie sky and his disembodied spirit " manifested itself standius: in the car in which he drove thrice round the great shrine, and then bowing down to the attendant priesthood, he de- parted for tusita" (the Buddhists' heaven). The ceremonial and dog- matic coincidences are equally re- markable ; — constant allusion is made to the practice of the kings to '• wash the feet of the priests and anoint them with oil. " — 3Iahmv(mso, ch. xxv. — XXX. In conformity with the denunciation that the sins of the fathers were to be visited on the children, the Jews inquired whether a "man's parents did commit sin that he was born blind ? " (John, ix. 3) ; and in like manner, in the Rajavnli, "the perjury of Wijayo (who had repudiated his wife after swearing fidelity to her) was visited on the person of the King Pandu- waasa," his nephew, whowas afflicted with insanity in consequence (Hcija- vctU, pp. 174 — 178). The account in the Sajaratnacari of King Batiya Tissa (B.C. 20), who was enabled to enter the Ruauwelle dagoba by the secret passage kno^wn only to the priests, and to discover their wealth and treasures deposited within, has a close resemblance to the descent of Daniel and King Astyages into the temple of Bel, by the privy en- trance imder the table, whereby the priests entered and consimied the oflerings made to the idol (Bel and the Dragon, Apocrvp. ch. i. — xiii. ; Rajaratnacari, p. 45). The inex- tinguishable fire which was for ever bflrning on the altar of God (Le- viticus, ch. vi. 13) resembles the lamps which burned for 5000 years continually in honour of Buddha (3Iahmvanso, ch. Ixxxi. ; Hqjaratna- cari, p. 49) ; and these again had their imitators in the lamp of Minerva, which was never permitted to go out in the temple at Athens, and in the Xvxvov aajiiarov, which was for ever burning in the temple of Amnion. The miracle of feeding the multitude by our Saviom* upon a few loaves and fishes, is repeated in the 31ahn- L L 4 520 SCIENCES iVSD SOCIAL ARTS. [Part IV on physical science, cosmography, materia medica, and siu'gery. From it, too, they have borrowed the hmited knowledge of astronomy, possessed by the individuals who combined with astrology and the casting of nati- vities, the practice of palmistry and the interpretation of dreams. In Sanskrit, they have treatises on music and painting, on versification and philology ; and their translations include a Singhalese version of those por- tions of the Ramayana^ which commemorate the con- quest of Lanka. III. Elu axd Singhalese. — There is no more strildng evidence of the intellectual inferiority of the modern, as compared with the ancient inhabitants of Ceylon, than is afforded by the popular literature of the latter, and the contrast it presents to the works of former ages. Descending from the gravity of rehgious disquisition and the dignity of history and science, the authors of later times have been content to hmit their efforts to works of fiction and amusement, and to baUads and doggerel descriptions of places or passing events. But, to the credit of the Singhalese, it must be wanso, wliere a divinely endowed princess fed Pandukabhaya, B.C. 437, and five hundred of liis followers with the repast which she was taking to her father and his reapers, the re- freshment being "scarcely diminished in quantity as if one person orfty had eaten therefrom." — Mahawanso, eh. X. p. 62. The preparation of the high road for the procession of the sacred bo-tree after its landing {Ma- hmcanso, ch. xix. p. 116), and the order to clear a road through the wilderness for the march of the king at the inauguration of Buddhism, recall the words of the prophet, " Prepare ye the way of the Lord, make straight a highway in the desert." (Isaiah, xl. 3.) And we are reminded of the prophecy of Isaiah as to the kingdom of peace, in which " the leopard shall lie down with the kid and the calf with the lion, and a young child shall lead them," by the Singhalese historians, in de- scribing the religious repose of the kingdom of Asoca imder the in- fluence of the religion of Buddha, where " the elk and the wild hog were the guardians of the gardens and fields, and the tiger led forth the cattle to gi-aze and reconducted them in safety to their pens." — Maha- wanso, ch. V. p. 22. The narrative of the "judgment of Solomon," in the matter of the contested child (1 Kings, ch. iii.), has its parallel in a story in every respect similar in the Pansviapanas-jataka. — Robert's On'mt. ilhvdr. p. 191. Chap. X.] LITERATURE. 521 said, tliat in their compositions, however satirical or laniihar they may be, their verses are entirely free from the hcentiousness which disfigures similar productions in India; and that if deficient in imagination and grace, they are equally exempt from grossness and indelicacy. The Sino;halese lano-uao-e is so flexible that it admits of every description of rhythm ; of this the versifiers have availed themselves to exhibit every variety of stanza and measure, and every native, male or female, can recite mnnbers of their favourite ballads. Their graver productions consist of poems in honoiu\ not of Buddha alone, but of deities taken from the Hindu Pantheon, — Patine, Siva, and Ganesa, paneg5rrics upon almsgiving, and couplets embod5dng aphorisms and morals. A considerable number of the Sutras or Discourses of Buddha have been translated into the vernacular from Pah, but the most popular of all are the jatakas, the Singhalese versions of wh'ch are so extended, that one copy alone fills 2000 olas or palm leaves, each twenty-nine inches in length and containing nine lines in a page. The other works in Singhalese are on subjects con- nected with history, such as the Rajavali and Bajarat- nacari, on grammar and lexicography, on medicine, topography, and other analogous subjects. But in all their productions, though invested with the trap- pings of verse, there alike is an avoidance of what is practical and true, and an absence of all that is in- ventive and poetic. They contain nothing that appeals to the heart or the affections, and their efforts of imagination aspire not to please or to elevate, but to astonish and bewilder by exaggeration and fable. Their poverty of resources leads to endless repetitions of the same epithets and incidents ; books are multiplied at the present day chiefly by extracts from works of 522 SCIENCES AND SOCIAL AETS. [Part IV. established popularity, and tlie number of qualified writers is becoming annually less from the altered cir- cumstances of the island and the dechne of those institutions and prospects which formerly stimidated the ambition of the Buddhist priesthood, and inspired a love of study and learning. 523 CHAP. XI. BUDDHISM AND DEMOX-WORSHIP. It is dilFiciilt to attempt any condensed, and at tlic same time perspicuous, sketch of the national rehgion of Ceylon — a difficulty which arises not merely from the volumi- nous obscurity of its sacred history and records ; but still more from confusion in the variety of forms under Avhicli Buddhism exliibits itself in various locahties, and the divergences of opinion which prevail as to its tenets and belief. The antiquity of its worship is so extreme, that doubts still hano; over its ori<2;in and its chronolooical relations to the rehgion of Brahma. Whether it took its rise in Hindustan, or in countries farther to the West, and whether Buddhism was the original doctrine of which Brahmanism became a corruption, or Brahmanism the ori- ginal and Buddliism an effort to restore it to its pristine piuity ^, — all these are questions which have yet to be ^ The details of the following chapter have been principally taken from Sir J. Emerson Tennexi's Christianity in Ceylon, ch. v. "^ Those early wTiters on the reli- gions of India who drew their infor- mation exclusiyely from Brahmanical soiu'ces, incline to favour the preten- sions of that system as the most an- cient of the two. Klaproth, a profovmd authority, was of this opinion ; but in later times the translations of the Pali records and other sacred volumes of Buddhism in Western India, Cey- lon, and Nepal, have inclined the preponderance of opinion, if not in faA our of the superior antiquity of Buddhism, at least in support of its contemporaneous development. A siunmarv of the ar"uments iu favour of the STiperior antiquity of Buddhism will be found in the " Notes" &.C., by Colonel Stkes, in the 12th volume of the Asiatic Journal — and in the Essai stir rOrif/ine dcs Princijtaii.v Petiples An- ciens, par F. L. M. Maupied, chap. viii. The arguments on the side of those who look on Brahman- ism as the original, are given by MoTJjSTTSTrART ELrinxsTONE in his History of India, vol. i. b. ii. c. 4. An able disquisition will be found in Max IMtJLLEn's History of Sanskrit Literature, pp. 33, 2G0, &c. Mr. GoGEELT, the most accomplished student of Buddhism iu Ceylon, says its sacred books expressly demonstrate that its doctrines had been preached by the twenty-four Buddhas who 524 BUDDHISM AND DEMON WOESIIIl' [Part IV. adjusted by the results of Oricutal research.^ It is, how- ever, estabhshed by a concurrence of historical proofs, that many centuries before the era of Christianity the doc- trines of Buddha were enthusiastically cultivated in Baha, the Magadha, or country of the Magas, whose modern name is identified with the Wihai^as or monasteries of Buddhism. Thence its teachers diffused themselves ex- tensively throughout India and the countries to the east- ward ; — upwards of two thousand years ago it became the national rehgion of Ceylon and the Indian Archipelago ; and its tenets have been adopted throughout the vast re- gions which extend from Siberia to Siam, and from the Bay of Bengal to the western shores of the Pacific.^ Looking to its influence at the present day over at least three hundred and fifty millions of human beings — exceeding one-third of the human race — it is no ex- aggeration to say that tlie rehgion of Buddha is tlie most widely diffused that now exists, or that has ever existed since the creation of mankind.^ Lad lived prior to Gotama, in periods incredibly remote ; but that they had entirely disappeared at the time of Gotama's birth, so that he re-discovered the whole, and revived an extinguished or nearly extinct school of philoso- phy. — Notes on Buddhism by the Rev. Mr. Gogerly, Appendix to Lee's Translation of RibejTo, p. 265. 1 The celebrated temple of Som- nauth was originally a Buddhist foundation, and in the worship of Jaggernath, to whose orgies all ranks are admitted without distinction of caste, there may still be traced an influence of Buddhism, if not a direct Buddhistical origin. Colonel Sykes is of opinion that the sacred tooth of Buddha was at one time deposited and worshipped in the great Temple of Calinga, now dedicated to Jagger- nath, by the Prmces of Orissa, who in the fourth century professed the Buddhist religion. (Colonel Sykes, NoteSj Sic, Asiatic Journal, vol. xii. pp. 276, 817, 420.) ^ Fa Hian declares that in the whole of India, including Affghanistan and Bokhara, he found in the fom-th century a Buddhist people and dynasty, with traditions of its endur- ance for the preceding thousand years. *'As to Ilindostan itself, he says, from the time of leaving the deserts (of Jaysulmeer and Bikaneer) and the river (Jumna ) to the west, oil tlie ki>u/s of the different hinf/doms in India arejirndy attached to the laic of Buddha, and when they do honour to the ecclesiastics they take oft' their diadems." — See also Mafpied, l^ssai sur rOriffine dcs PrincijMux' Peiijjles Anciens, chap. ix. p. 209. ^ See ante, p. 326. So ample are the materials oft'ered by Buddhism for antiquarian research, that its doc- trines have been sought to be iden- 'tiiied at once with the Asiatic philo- sophy and with the myths of the Scandinavians. Buddha has been at Chap. XI.] BEAHMANISM TRIUMPHS OVER BUDDHISM. From the earliest period of Indian tradition, the strug- gle between the religion of Buddha and that of Brahma was carried on with a fanaticism and perseverance which resulted in the ascendancy of the Brahmans, perhaps about the commencement of the Christian era, and the eventual expulsion some centuries later of the worship of their rivals from Hindustan ; but at what precise time the latter catastrophe was consummated has not been recorded in the annals of either sect.^ That Buddhism thus dispersed over eastern and central Asia became an active agent in the promotion of whatever civilisation afterwards enlightened the races by whom its doctrines were embraced, seems to rest npon e\ddence which admits of no reasonable doubt. The introduction of Buddhism into China is ascertained to have been con- one time eonj ectured to Toe the Woden of the Scythians; at another the prophet Daniel, whom Nebnchad- nezzar had created master of the astrologers, or chief priest of the Magi, as the title is rendered in the Septua- gint — Apyoi'-ci Majif)}'. An anti- quarian of Wales, in devising a pedigTee for the Cymri, has imported ancestors for the ancient Britons from Ceylon ; and a writer in the Asiatic JResearches, in 1807, as a preamble to the proof that the binomial theorem was familiar to tlie Hindus, has traced Western ciAilisation to an irruption of philosophers from India, identified the Druids with the Brah- mans, and declared Stoueheuge to be ''one of the temples of Boodh." (Asiat. 2ies., vol. ii. p. 448.) A stiU more recent investigator, M. Mattpied, has collected, in his Essai sur V Orif/ine dcs Pciqjles Anciens, what he considers to be the evidence that Buddhism may be indebted for its appearance in India to the captivity of the Jews by Salmanasar, 729 B.C.; to their disper- sion by Assar-Addon at a still more recent period ; to their captivity in Babylon, 006 B.C. ; their diffusion over Media and the East, Persia, Bactria, Thibet, and China, and the communication of tlieir sacred book to the nations amongst whom they thus became sojourners. He ven- tures even to suggest a possible iden- tity between the names Jehovah and Buddha: " Les voyelles du mot Bouddha sont les memes que celles du mot Jehovah, qu'on prononce aussi JoKva ; mais d'ailleurs le noni de Boudda a bien pu eti-e tire du mot Jeoudda Juda, le dieu de Joudda Boudda.'" — Chap. ix. p. 2.35. To account for the purer morals of Budd- hism, Mavpied has recourse to the conjecture that they may have been influenced by the preaching of St. Thomas at Ceylon, and Bartholomew on the continent of India. '' Or il nous semble locjique de condure de tons ces faits que le Bouddhisme, dans ses doctrines essetitielles, est cT orif/ine Juice et Chretienne; consequence inattendue pour In jilus de nos lecteurs sans doute." — Maupied, ch. ix. p. 257 ; ch. x. p. 263. ^ The final overthrow of Buddhism in Bahar and its expulsion from Hin- dustan took place probably between the seventh and twelfth centuries of the Christian era. Colonel Sykes, however, extends the period to the tliirteenth or fom-teonth (Asiatic Journal, vol. iv. p. 334). 526 BUDDHISM AXD DEMON-WOESHIP. [Part IV. temporary with tlie early development of tlie arts amongst tliis remarkable people, at a period coeval, if not anterior, to the era of Christianity.^ Buddhism exerted a salutary mfluence over the tribes of Thibet ; through them it be- came mstrumental in humanising the Moguls ; and it more or less led to the cessation of the devastating in- cursions by which the hordes of the East were precipitated over the Western Empire in the early ages of Christianity. The Singhalese, and the nations of further Asia, are indebted to Buddhism for an alphabet and a hterature ^ ; and whatever of authentic history w^e possess in relation to these countries we owe to the influence of their generic rehgion. JSTor are its effects limited to these objects : much of what is vigorous in the character of its northern converts may be traced to the operation of its principles, in the development of their pecuhar idiosyncrasy, which, unhke that of the unwarlike Singhalese, rejected sloth and effeminacy to aim at conquest and power. Looking to the self-rehance which Buddhism incidcates, the exaltation of intellect which it proclaims, and the perfection of virtue and wisdom to which it points as within the reach of every created being, it may readily be imagined, that it must have wielded a spell of unusual potency, and one well calculated to awaken boldness and energy in those already animated by schemes of ambition. In Ceylon, on the contrary, owning more or less to insulation and seclusion, Buddliism has survived for upwards of 2000 years as unchanged in all its leading characteristics as the genius of the people has remained torpid and inani- mate under its mfluence. In this respect the Singhalese are the hving mummies of past ages ; and reahse in their immovable characteristics the Eastern fable of the city whc>se inhabitants were perpetuated in marble. If change has in any degree supervened, it has been from the cor- ruption of the practice, not from any abandonment of tlie ^ Max MiJLLEE^ Hist. Sanskrit j sw le Pali, ou Langue Sacree de la Literature, p. 264. | PresqiCile au-dela (hi Gauge, ch. i., ^ See BcENorF et Lassex^ Essai ' &c. Chap. XT.] BUDDHISM UXDER MANY SHAPES. 527 principles, of Buddhism ; and in arts, literature, and mdli- sation, the records of thek own history, and the ruins of then- monuments, attest their deterioration in common mtli tliat of every other nation which has not at some time been brought under the ennobhng uifluences of Christianity. In alluding to the doctrines of Buddhism, as it exists at the present day, my observations are to be understood as applying to the aspect under which it presents itself in Ceylon, irrespective of the numerous forms in which it has been cultivated elsewhere. Even before the de- cease of the last Buddha, schisms had arisen amongst his followers m Incha. Eighteen heresies are deplored in the Mahawanso within two centuries from his death ; and four distinct sects, each rejoicing in the name of Buddhists, are still to be traced amongst the remnants of his worshippers in Hindustan.^ In its migrations to other countries since its dispersion by the Brahmans, Buddhism has assmned and exhibited itself in a variety of shapes. At the present day its doctrines, as cherished among the Jainas of Guzerat and Eajpootana^, differ widely from its mysteries, as adminis- tered by the Lama of Thibet ; and both are equally distinct from the metaphysical abstractions jDropounded by the monks of Nepal. Its observances in Japan have under- gone a stiU more striking alteration fi'om their vicinity to the Syntoos ; and in China they have been similarly mo- dified in their contact with the rationahsm of Lao-tsen and the social demonology of the Confucians.^ But in each and all the distinction is in degree rather than essence ; and the general concurrence is unbroken in aU the grand es- sentials of the system. ^ CoJehrookes Essays on the Philo- sophy of the Hindoos, sect. v. pai't 5, p. 401.' ^ An account of the religion of the Jains or Jainas, will be found in MouxTSTrAET Elphinstone's His- tory of India, vol. i. b. ii. ch. 4. They arose in the sixth or seventh centiuy, were at their height in the eleventh, and declined in the twelfth. See also Max MiJLLER, Hist. Sanskrit Litera- ture, p. 201, &c. ^ Details of Buddhism in China and Chin-India wiU be found in the erudite commentaries of KxAPKOTH, REMrsAT, and Laxdkesse. >28 BUDDHISM AXD DEMOX WORSHIP. [Part IV. Wliilst Brahmanism, witliout denying the existence, prac- tically ignores the influence and power of a creating and controhing intelhgence, Buddhism, exulting in the idea of the infinite perfectibility of man, and the achievement of the highest attainable happiness by the unfaltering practice of every conceivable virtue, exalts the individuals thus pre- eminently wise into absolute supremacy over all existing beings, and attempts the daring experiment of an atheistic moralitii} Even Buddha himself is not worshipped as a de- ity, or as a still existent and active agent of benevolence and power. He is merely reverenced as a glorified remembrance, the effulgence of whose pmity serves as a guide and incen- tive to the future struggles and aspirations of mankind. The sole superiority which his doctrines admit is that of good- ness and wisdom ; and Buddha ha\dng attained to this perfection by the immaculate purity of his actions, the ' M. Remusat aiiuoimces, as the result of his researches, that neither the Chinese, the Tartars, nor Mongnls have any word in their dialects ex- pressi^e of oiu* idea of a God. — Foe Koiie Ki, p. 138; and M. Baethe- LEMY Saint-IIilaire adds, that " il n'y a pas trace de Tidee de Dieu dans le Bouddhisme eutier, ni an debut ni au terme." — Le Bouddha, &c., lutrod. p. iv. Colonel Stkes, in the xiith vol. of the Asiatic Journal, pp. 2G3 and 37G, denies that Bud- dhism is atheistic; and adduces, in support of his views, allusions made by Fa PIian. But the passages to which he refers present no direct contradiction to those metaphysical subtleties by which the Buddhistical ^vriters have carefully avoided whilst they closely approach the admission of belief in a deity. I am not pre- pared to deny that the faith in a su- preme beiug- may not have charac- terised Buddhism in its origin, as the belief in a Great First Cause in the person of Brahma is still acknow- ledged by the Hindus, although ho- noured by no share of their adoration. But it admits of little doubt that neither in the discourses of its priest- hood at the present day nor in the practice of its followers in Ceylon is the name or the existence of an omnipotent First Cause recog- nised in any portion of their worship. MArPiED has correctly described Buddhism both in Ceylon and China as a system of refined atheism (Essai stir rOrif/ine des Peaples Anciens, ch. X. p. 277), and MorNxsirAET El- phinstone gives the weight of his high authority in the statement that " The most ancient of Baudha sects entirely denies the being of a God ; and some of those which admit the existence of God still refuse to ac- knowledge him as the creator and ruler of the world The theistical sect seems to prevail in Nepaul, and the atheistical to subsist in perfection in Cei/lon.'^ — History of India, vol. i. pt. ii. ch. 4. An able writer in the fourth volume of the Cakndta JRevietv has also controverted the assertion of its atheistic complex- ion ; but whatever truth may be de- veloped in his views, their application is confined to Buddhism in Hindustan and Nepal, and is utterly at variance with the practice and received dog- mns in Cevlon. Chap. XI.] BEAHMAIS^ISM AXD BUDDHISM COMPAEED. 529 absolute subjugation of passion, and tlie unerring accuracy of bis unlimited knowledge, became entitled to tlie liomage of all, and Avas required to render it to none. Externally coinciding with Hinduism, so far as the avatar of Buddha may be regarded as a pendant for the incarnation of Brahma, the worship of the former is essentially distinguished from the rehgion of the latter in one important particular. It does not regard Bud- dha as an actual emanation or manifestation of the di\diiity, but as a guide and example to teach an en- thusiastic self-rehance by means of which manldnd, of themselves and by their own unassisted exertions, are to attain to perfect vktue here and to supreme happiness hereafter. Both systems inculcate the mysterious doc- trine of the metempsychosis ; but whilst the residt of suc- cessive embodiments is to bring the soul of the Hindu nearer and nearer to the final beatitude of absorption into the essence of Brahma, the end and aim of the Budd- histical transmigiation is to lead the purified spuit to Nincana ^, a condition between which and utter anni- liilation there exists but the dim distinction of a name. Nirwana is the exhaustion but not the destruction of existence, the close but not the extinction of being. In clehberate consistency with this principle of human elevation, the doctrines of Buddha recognise the fuU ehgibihty of every individual born into the world for the attainment of the highest degrees of intellectual perfection and ultimate bliss ; and herein consists its most striking departure from the Brahmanical system in denying the superiority of the " twice born " over the rest of mankind ; in repudiating a sacerdotal supremacy of race, and in claiming for the pure and the wise that supremacy and exaltation which the self-glorified Brahmans would monopolise for themselves. * '' Nirwana " is Sansln-it, ni (r I derivedfrom newanawa, to extinguish, eiiplion. causa) 7V(ma desire. The See J. Baethelemy Saint-IIilaike, Singhalese name "Nii-wana" is also I Le Bonddha, 133^ 177, &:c. VOL. I. M M 530 BUDDHISM AND DEMON-WOESHIP. [Part IV. Hence the supremacy of " caste " is utterly disclaimed in tlie sacred books which contain the tenets of Buddha ; and although in process of time his followers have de- parted from that portion of his precepts, still distinction of bh-th is nowhere authoritatively recognised as a quah- fication for the priesthood. Buddha being in iaoX a deifi- cation of human intellect, the philanthropy of the system extends its participation and advantages to the whole family of mankind, the humblest member of which is sustained by the assurance that by vktue and endurance he may attain an equahty though not an identification with the supreme intelligence. Wisdom thus exalted as the sole object of pursuit and veneration, the Buddhists, with cha- racteristic hberahty, admit that the teaching of virtue is not necessarily confined to their own professors ; especially when the ceremonial of others does not involve the taldng of hfe. Hence in a great degree arises the indifference of the Singhalese as to the comparative claims of Christianity and Buddhism, and hence the facihty with which, both under the Portuguese, the Dutch, and the British Govern- ment, they have combined the secret worship of the one with the ostensible profession of the other. They in fact admit Christ to have been a teacher, second only to Buddha, but inferior, inasmuch as the latter, who was perfect in wisdom, has attained to the bliss of Nu-wana.^ ■^ Sir John Davis, in liis account of the Chinese, states that the Butld- hists there worship the " Qireeti of Heaven," a personage BAddently bor- rowed from the Roman Catholics, and that the name of "Jesus "' appears in the list of their divinities. (Chap, xiv.) A curious illustration of the preva- lence of this disposition to conform to two religions was related to me in Ceylon. A Singhalese chief came a short time since to the principal of a government seminary at Colombo, desirous to place his son as a pupil of the institution, and agreed, without an instant's hesitation, that the boy should conform to the discipline of the .school; which requires the reading of the Scriptm-es and attendance at the hours of worship and prayer; ac- coimting for his ready acquiescence by an assm-ance that he entertained an equal respect for the doctrines of Buddhism and Christianity. " But how can you," said, the principal, " with your superior education and intelligence, reconcile yom-self thus to halt between two opinions, and submit to the inconsistency of pro- fessing an equal belief in two con- flicting religions ? " " Do you see," replied the subtle chief, laying his hand on tlie arm of the other, and directing his attention to a canoe, with a large spar as an outrigger lashed alongside, in which a fisher- Chap. XI.] WHEREIX THE TWO RELIGIONS AGREE. 531 As regards tlie structure of the universe, the theories of the Buddhists, though in a great degree borrowed from the Brahmans, occupy a much less prominent position in theii" mythology, and are less intimately identified with their system of religion. Their attention has been directed less to physical than to metaphysical disquisitions, and their views of cosmogony have as httle of truth as of imagination in their details. The basis of the system is a declaration of the eternity of matter, and its submission at remote intervals to decay and re-formation ; but this and the organisation of animal life are but the results of spontaneity and procession, not the products of will and design on the part of an all powerftd Creator. Buddhism adopts something approaching to X\iq mundane theory of the Brahmans, in the multiphcity and superposition of worlds and the division of the eartli into concentric continents, each separated by oceans of various fabulous hquids. Its notions of geography are at once fanciful and crude ; and again borrowing from the Shastras its chronology, extends over boundless portions of time, but invests with the authority of history only those occur- rences wdiicli have taken place since the bu'th of Gotama Buddha. The Buddhists beheve in the existence of lokas, or heavens, each differing in glory, and serving as the tem- porary residences of demigods and divinities, as well as of men whose etheriahsation is but inchoate, and who have yet to visit the earth in further births and acquire in future transmigrations their complete attainment of Nirwana. They believe likewise in the existence of hells which are the abodes of demons or tormentors, and in which the wicked undergo a purgatorial imprisonment preparatory to an extended probation upon earth. Here man was just pushing off upon the lake, '^ do you see the stsie of these boats, in whieli our fishermen always put to sea, and that tliat spar is al- most equivalent to a second canoe, which keeps the first from upsetting ? It is precisely so with myself : I add on your religion to steady my own, hecduse I consider Christidnity a venj mfo ontriyyer to Uuddhitmi.'' M M 2 532 BUDDHISM AND DEMON-WOESHIP. [Part IV. their torments are in proportion to tlieir crimes, and althougli not eternal, tlieir duration extends almost to the infinitude of eternity ; those who have been guilty of the deadly sins of parricide, sacrilege, and defiance of the faith being doomed to the endurance of excruciating deaths, followed by instant revival and a repetition of their tortures without mitigation and apparently without end.^ It is one of the extraordinary anomalies of the system, that combined with these piinciples of self-rehance and perfectibihty, Buddhism has incorporated to a certain extent the doctrine of fate or " necessity," under which it demonstrates that adverse events are the general results of akusala or moral demerit in some previous stage of existence. This behef, which hes at the very foundation of thek religion, the Buddhists have so adap- ted to the rest of the structure as to avoid the incon- sistency of maldng this dii'ecting power inherent in any Supreme Being, by assigning it as one of the attributes of matter and a law of its perpetual mutations. Like all the leading doctrines of Buddhism, however, its theories on this subject are propounded with the usual admixture of modification and casuistry; only a portion of men's conduct is presumed to be exclusively control- lable by fate — neither moral dehnquency nor virtuous actions are declared to be altogether the products of an inevitable necessity; and whilst both the sufferings and the enjoyments of mortals are represented as the general consequences of merit in a previous stage of existence, even this fundamental principle is not without its ex- ception, inasmuch as the vicissitudes are admitted to be partially the results of man's actions in this hfe, or of the influence of others from which his own deserts are insufficient to protect him. The main article, however, which admits neither of modification nor evasion, is that neither in heaven nor on earth can man escape from the ' Davy's Account of the Interior of Cvyhm, p. 204. Chap. XI.] EEWAKDS AND PUNISHMENTS. 533 consequences of liis acts; that morals are in tlieir essence productive causes, without the aid or intervention of any- higher authority; and hence forgiveness or atonement are ideas utterly unknown in the despotic dogmas of I3uddha. Allusion has already been made to the subtleties enter- tained by the priesthood, in connexion with the doctrine of the metempsychosis, as developed in their sacred books; but the exposition would be tedious to show the distinctions between then- theories, and the opinions of transmigration entertained by the mass of the Singhalese Buddhists. The rewards of virtue and the punishment of vice are supposed to be equally attainable in this world; and according to the amount of either, which characterizes the conduct of an individual in one stao;e of being, will be the elevation or degradation into which he will be hereafter born. Thus punishment and reward become equally fixed and inevitable : but retribution may be deferred by the intermediate exhibition of virtue, and an offerino- or prostration to Buddha, or an aspiration in favour of faith in his name, mil suffice to ward off punishment for a tune, and even produce happiness in an intermediate buth; hence the most flagitious offender, by an act of reverence in dying, may postpone indefinitely the evil consequence of liis crimes, and hence the indifference and apparent apathy Avliich is a remarkable characteristic of the Singlialese who suffer death for their offences.^ To manldnd in general Buddha came only as an ad- viser and a friend; but, as regards his own priesthood, he assumes all the authority of a lawgiver and chief. Spurning the desires and vanities of the world, he has taught them to aspke to no other reward for then- Et vos barbaricos ritus, moremque sinistrum Sacronim Druidae positis repetistis ab armis. Solis nosse dcos, et cceli numiiia vobis Aut solis nescire datum: nemora alta remoti Incolitis lucis : vobis auctorihus umbnc Kon lacitas Erebi sedes Vitisque pi-ofundi PaUirla regnn pciunt : regil idem spiiitns alius Oibe alio : longtc {si caiiilis cngnita) vita; Mors media est. Cerlipopuli quos despicitArctos Felices errore suo, quos iltc timorum Maximus haud urgct leti metus, etc. Li'CAN, 1. i. 450 ct seq. M IM 3 534 BUDDHISM AXD DEMON-WOESHIP. [Part I suming their robe and occupations ; subsist food ; devote on themselves labours than the veneration of the human race, as teachers of knowledge and examples of benevolence. Taking the abstract idea of perfect intelligence and immaculate vu^tue for a divinity, Buddhism accords honour to all in proportion to their approaches towards absolute wisdom, and as the reahsation of this per- fection is regarded as almost hopeless in a hfe devoted to secular cares, the priests of Buddha, on as- tonsure, forswear all earthly alms, not in money, but in to meditation and self-denial; and, being thus proclaimed and recognised as the most successful aspirants to Nirwana, they claim the homage of ordinary mortals, acknowledge no superior upon earth, and withhold even the tribute of a salutation from all except the members of tlieir own religious order. To mankind in general the injunctions of Buddha prescribe a code of morality second only to that of Chris- tianity, and superior to every heathen system that the world has seen.^ It forbids the taldng of life from even the humblest created animal, and prohibits intemperance and incontinence, dishonesty and falsehood — vices which are referable to those formidable assailants, rdga or con- cupiscence, doso or malignity, and moha^ ignorance or foUy.^ These, again, involve all their minor modifications — hypocrisy and anger, unkindness and pride, ungenerous suspicion, covetousness, evil wishes to others, the betrayal of secrets, and the propagation of slander. Whilst all such offences are forbidden, every excellence is simul- taneously enjoined — the forgiveness of injuries, the practice of charity, a reverence for virtue, and the che- rishing of the learned ; submission to disciphne, veneration 1 '' Je n'liesite pas a aj outer quo, sauf le Christ tout seul, il n'est point, parmi les fondateurs de religion de fig-ure, plus pure ni plus touchaute que cello de IJouddha. Sa vie n'a point de tacLe." — Le BoucWia, par J. BaHTHELEMT SAINT-IIlLArRE, In- trod. p. V. 2 The Rev. Mr. Gogekly's Notes on Buddhism. Lee's Ribeyro, p. 267, Chap. XI.] BUDDHISM A SCHOOL OF PHILOSOPHY. 535 for parents, the care for one's family, a sinless vocation, contentment and gratitude, subjection to reproof, mo- deration in prosperity, submission under affliction, and cheerfulness at all times. " Those," said Buddha, " wlio practise all these virtues, and are not overcome by evil, will enjoy the perfection of happiness, and attain to supreme renown." ^ Buddliism, it may be perceived from this sketch, is, properly speaking, less a form of rehgion than a school of philosophy ; and its u'orsliii)^ according to the institutes of its founders, consists of an appeal to the reason, rather than an attempt on the imagination through the instru- mentahty of rites and parade. "Salvation is made de- pendent, not upon the practice of idle ceremonies, the repeating of prayers or of hjTims, or invocations to pretended gods, but upon moral quahfications, which constitute individual and social happiness here, and ensure it hereafter." ^ In later times, and in the failure of Buddhism by unassisted arguments to ensure the ob- servance of its precepts and the practice of its morals, the experiment has been made to arouse the attention and excite the enthusiasm of its followers by the adoj)tion of ceremonies and processions ; but these are declared to be only the innovations of priestcraft, and the Singha- lese, whilst they unite in their celebration, are impatient to explain that such practices are less rehgious than secular, and that the Perrehera in particular, the chief of their annual festivals, Avas introduced, not in honour of Buddha, but as a tribute to the Kandyan kings as the patrons and defenders of the faith.^ In its formula, whatever alterations Buddhism may ' Discoui'so of Buddlia entitled Manf/ala. ^ Colonel Sykes, Asiat. Jouni., vol. xii. p. 266. ^ Fa IIian describes the proces- sion of Riiddliists wliicli lie witnessed in the liingdoui of Khotan, and it is M M 4 not a little remarkable, that along with the image of liiiddha were as- sociated those of the Brahmanical deities Indra and Brahma, the Lha of the Thibetans and the Tueyri of the Moo-ids. 536 BUDDHISM AND DEMOX-WORSHIP. [rAux IV. Lave undergone in Ceylon are altogether external, and clearly referable to its anomalous association with the worship of its ancient rivals the Brahmans. These changes, however, are the result of proximity and asso- ciation rather than of incorporation or adoption ; and even now the process of expurgation is in progress with a view to the restoration of the pristine purity of the faith by a formal separation from the observances of Hin- duism. The schismatic Idngs and the Malabar sovereigns introduced the worship of Vishnu and Shiva into the same temples with that of Buddha.^ The innovation has been perpetuated ; and to the present day the statues of these conflicting divinities are to be found within the same buildings ; the Dewales of Hinduism are erected within the same inclosure as the Wiharas of the Buddhists ; and the Kappoorales of the one rehgion ofliciate at their altars, almost beneath the same roof with the priests and neophytes of the other. But beyond this parade of their emblems, the worship of the Hindu deities throughout the Singhalese districts is entirely de- void of the obscenities and cruelty by which it is clia- racterised on the continent of India ; and it would almost appear as if these had been discontinued by the Brah- mans in compliment to the superior purity of the worship with which their o\vn had become thus fortuitously as- sociated. The exclusive prejudices of caste were at the same remote period partially engrafted on the simpler and more generous disciphne of Buddha ; and it is only recently that any vigorous exertions have been attempted for their disseverance. On comparing this system with other prevaihng re- hgions which divide with it the worship of the East, Bud- dhism at once vindicates its own superiority, not only by the purity of its code of morals, but by its freedom from the fanatical intolerance of the Mahometans and its ab- horrent rejection of the revolting rites of the Brahmanical ^ See ante, Vol. I. Part in. cli. viii. p. 378. Cii.vr. XI.] BUDDHISM DESTITUTE OP VITALITY. 537 faith. But mild and benevolent as are its aspects and design, its tlieories have failed to reahse in practice the reign of virtue which they proclaim. Beautiful as is the body of its doctrines, it wants the vivifying energy and soul which are essential to ensure its ascendancy and power. Its cold philosophy and thin abstractions, how- ever calculated to exercise the faculties of anchorets and ascetics, have proved insufficient of themselves to arrest man in his career of passion and pursuit ; and the bold experiment of influencing the heart and regulating the conduct of manlvind by the external decencies and the mutual dependencies of morality, unsustained by higher hopes and by a faith that penetrates eternity, has proved in this instance an unredeemed and hopeless failure. The inculcation of the social virtues as the consummation of happiness here and hereafter, suggests an object sufficiently attractive for the bulk of mankind ; but Buddhism pre- sents along with it no adequate knowledge of the means which are mdispensable for its attainment. In confiding all to the mere strength of the human intellect and the enthusiastic self-rehance and determination of the human heart, it makes no provision for defence against those powerful temptations before which ordinary resolution must give way ; and affords no consohng support under those overwhelming afflictions by which the spirit is pros- trated and subdued, when unaided by the influence of a purer faith and unsustained by its confidence in a diviner power. From the contemplation of the Buddhist all the awful and unendino; reahties of a futin^e hfe are with- drawn — his hopes and his fears are at once mean and circumscribed ; the rewards held in prospect by his creed are insufficient to incite him to virtue ; and its punish- ments too remote to deter him from vice. Thus, insuffi- cient for time, and rejecting eternity, the utmost triumph of his religion is to hve without fear and to die without hope. Both socially and in its effects upon individuals, the result of the system in Ceylon has been apathy almost ap- 538 - BUDDHISM AND DEMON"-WOESHIP. [rAUT IV. proacliing to infidelity. Even as regards the tenets of their creed, the mass of the population exhibit the pro- foundest ignorance and manifest the most irreverent in- difference. In their daily intercom^se and acts, morality and virtue, so far from being apparent as the rule, are barely discernible as the exception. Neither hopes nor apprehensions have proved a sufficient restraint on the habitual violation of all those precepts of charity and honesty, of purity and truth, which form the very essence of their doctrine ; and in proportion as its tenets have been shghted by the people, its priesthood are disregarded, and its temples neglected. No national system of religion, no prevaihng super- stition that has ever fallen under my observation presents so dull a level, and is so pre-eminently deficient in popular influences, as Buddhism amongst the Singhalese. It has its multitude of followers, but it is a misnomer to describe them as its votaries, for the term imphes a warmth and fervour unknown to a native of Ceylon. He beheves, or he thinks he believes, because he is of the same faith with liis ancestors ; but he looks on the rehgious doctrines of the various sects which surround him with a stohd indifference which is the siu"est indication of the httle importance which he attaches to his own. The fervid earnestness of Cluistianity, even in its most degenerate forms, the fanatical enthusiasm of Islam, the proud ex- clusiveness of Brahma, and even the zealous warmth of other Northern faiths, are all emotions utterly foreign and unknown to the followers of Buddhism in Ceylon. Yet, strange to tell, under all the icy coldness of this barren system, there burn below the unextinguished fires of another and a darker superstition, whose flames overtop the icy summits of the Buddhist philosophy, and excite a deeper and more reverential awe in the imagination of the Singhalese. As the Hindus in process of time superadded to their exalted conceptions of Brahma, and the benevolent attributes of Vishnu, those chsmal dreams and apprehen- sions which embody themselves in the horrid worship of Cuvr. XI.] DEMON-WORSHIP OLDER TII.VX BUDDHISM. 539 Shiva, and in invocations to propitiate the destroyer ; so the followers of Buddha, unsatisfied with the vain preten- sions of unattainable perfection, struck down by their in- ternal consciousness of sin and insufficiency, and seeing around them, instead of the reign of universal happiness and the apotheosis of intellect and wisdom, nothing but the ravages of crime and the sufferings produced by igno- rance, have turned with instinctive terror to propitiate the powers of evil, by whom alone such miseries are supposed to be inflicted, and to worship the demons and tormentors to whom their superstition is contented to attribute a cir- cumscribed portion of power over the earth. Demon worship prevailed amongst the Singhalese be- fore the introduction of Buddhism by Mahindo. Some principle aldn to it seems to be an aboriginal impulse of uncivihsed man in his first and rudest conceptions of reh- gion, engendered, perhaps, by the spectacle of cruelty and pain, the visitations of suffering and death, and the con- templation of the awful phenomena of nature — storms, torrents, volcanoes, earthquakes, and destruction. The concihation of the powers which inflict such calamities, seems to precede, when it does not supplant, the adoration of the benevolent influence to which belong the creation, the preservation, and the bestowal of happiness on man- kind ; and in the mind of the native of Ceylon this ancient superstition has maintained its ascendancy, notwithstanding the introduction and ostensible prevalence of Buddhism; for the latter, whilst it admits the existence of evil spmts, has emphatically prohibited their invocation, on the ground that any mahgnant influence they may exert over man is merely the consequence of his vices, whilst the cultivators of virtue may successfully bid them defiance. The demons here denounced are distinct from a class of demigods, who, under the name of Yalcshyos, are supposed to inhabit the waters, and dwell on the sides of Mount Meru, and who are distinguished not only for gentleness and benevolence, but even by a veneration for Buddha, who, in one of his 540 BUDDHISM AJN'D DEMON-WORSHIP. [Part IV. earlier transmigrations, Avas liimself born under the form of a Yaksliyo, and, attended by similar companions, tra- versed the world teaching righteousness. One section of these demigods, however, the Ralcshyos, are fierce and mahgnant, and in these respects resemble the Yakkas or demons so much dreaded by the Singhalese, and who, hke the Ghouls of the Mahometans, are beheved to infest the vicinity of graveyards, or, hke the dryads and hamadryads of the ancients, to frequent favourite forests and groves, and to inhabit particular trees, whence they sally out to seize on the passer by.^ The Buddhist priests connive at demon worship because their efforts are inefiectual to sup- press it, and the most orthodox Singhalese, whilst they confess its impropriety, are still driven to resort to it hi all their fears and afflictions. Independent of the mahgnant spirits or Yakkas, who are the authors of indefinite evil, the Singhalese have a demon or Saime for each form of disease, who is supposed to be its direct agent and inflictor, and who is accordingly invoked for its removal ; and others, who delight in tlie miseries of mankind, are to be propitiated before the arrival of any event over which then- pernicious influence might otherwise prevail. Hence, on every domestic occurrence, as well as in every domestic calamity, the services of the ^ Travellers from Point de Galle to Colombo, in driving- through tlie long succession of gardens and plantations of coco-nuts which the road traverses throughout its entire extent, will not fail to observe fruit-trees of difterent kinds, roimd the stem of which a hand of leaves has been fastened by the owner". This is to denote that the tree has been devoted to a demon ; and sometimes to Vishnu or the Kattregam dewol. Occasionally these dedications are made to the temples of Buddha, and even to the Roman Catholic altars, as to that of St. Anne of Calpentyn. This ceremony is called Gok-handecma, ^' the tying of the tender leaf," and its operation is to protect the fruit from pillage till ripe enough to be plucked and sent as an offering to the divinity to whom it has thus been consecrated. There is reason to fear, however, that on these occasions the devil is, to some extent, defrauded of his due, as the custom is, after applying a few only of the finest as an offering to the evil one, to appropriate the remainder to the use of the ovraer. When coco-nut palms are so preserved, the fruit is sometimes converted into oil and burned before the shrine of the demon. The superstition extends throughout other parts of Ceylon ; and so long as the wi-eath continues to hang upon the tree, it is presumed that no thief would venture to plim- der the garden. CiiAP. XT.] DEVIL-DANCERS. 541 Kattadias or devil-priests are to be sought, and their ceremonies performed, generally with observances so bar- barous as to be the most revolting: evidence still extant of the uncivilised habits of the Singhalese. Especially in cases of sickness and danger, the assistance of the devil-dancer is imphcitly rehed on : an altar, decorated with garlands, is erected Avithin sight of the patient, and on this an animal, frequently a cock, is to be sacrificed for his recovery. The d}dng man is instructed to touch and dedicate to the evil spirit the wild flowers, the rice, and the flesh, which have been prepared as the jiidaneys or offerings to be made at sunset, at midnight, and the morning ; and in the intervals the dancers per- form their incantations, habited in masks and disguises to represent the demon which they personate, as the immediate author of the patient's suffering. In the frenzy of these orgies, the Kattadia having feigned the access of inspiration from the spirit he invokes, is consulted by the friends of the afflicted, and declares the natiu-e of his disease, and the probabihty of its favourable or fatal termination. At sunrise, the ceremony closes by an exorcism chanted to disperse the demons who have been attracted by the rite ; the devil-dancers withdraw mth the offerings, and sing, as they re- tire, the concluding song of the ceremony, " that the sacrifice may be acceptable and the hfe of the sufferer extended." In addition to this Yakka worship, which is essentially indigenous in Ceylon, the natives practise the invocation of a distinct class of demons, their conceptions of which are evidently borrowed from the debased ceremonies of Hinduism, though in their adoption they have rejected the grosser incidents of its ritual, and replaced them with others less cruel, but by no means less revolting. The Capuas, who perform ceremonies in honour of these strange gods, are of a higher rank than the Kattadias, who conduct the incantations to the Yakkas, and they are 542 BUDDHISM AXD DEMON-WOKSHIP. [Paet IV. more or less connected Avitli the Dewales and temples of Hinduism. The sphits in whose honour these ceremonies are performed, are all foreign to Ceylon. Some, such as Kattregam and Pattine, are borrowed from the mythology of the Brahmans ; some are the genh of fire and other ele- ments of the universe, and others are deified heroes ; l^ut tlie majority are dreaded as the inflictors of pestilence and famine, and propitiated by rites to avert the visitations of their mahgnity. The ascendancy of these superstitions, and the anomaly of thek association with the rehgion of Buddlia, wliich has taken for its deity the perfection of wisdom and benevolence, present one of the most signal difficulties with which Christianity has had, at all times, to contend in the effort to extend its influences throughout Ceylon. The Portuguese priesthood discovered that, however the Singhalese might be induced to profess the worship of Christ, they adliered with timid tenacity to their ancient demonology. The Dutch clergy, in their reiterated la- mentations over the failure of their efibrts for conversion, have repeatedly recorded the fact, that however readily the native population might be brought to abjure their behef in the doctrines of Buddha, no arguments or expe- dients had proved effectual to overcome their terror of the demons, or check their propensity to resort on every emergency to the ceremonies of the Capuas, the dismal rites of the devil-dancers.^ The Wesleyans, the Baptists, and other missionaries, who in later times have made the hamlets and secluded districts of Ceylon the scene of their unwearied labours, have found, with equal disappointment, that to the present hour the villagers and the peasantry are as powerfully attracted as ever by this strong super- stition, bearing on their person the charms calculated to protect them from the evil eye of the demon, consulting the astrologers and the Capuas on every domestic emer- gency, solemnizing their marriages under their auspices, 1 Ilorcn. liisL Clirist. in Lulin, vol. iv. b. xii. cli. v. Chap. XI.] EUDDIIISM EXTREMELY TOLER.\KT. 543 and requiring their presence at the birth of their children, who, together with their mother, are not unfrequently dedicated to the evil spirits, whom they dread.^ As regards Buddhism itself, whilst there is that in the tenets and genius of Brahmanism Avhich proclaims an active resistance to any other form of religion, Chris- tianity in the southern expanse of Ceylon has to encounter an obstacle still more embarrassing in the habitual apathy and hstless indifference of the Buddhists. Brahmanism in its constitution and spirit is essentiaUy exclusive and fanatical, jealous of all conflicting faiths, and strongly dis- posed to persecution. Buddhism, on the other hand, in the strength of its self-righteousness, extends a latitudina- rian hberality to every other behef, and exhibits a Laoch- cean indifference towards its own. Whilst Brahmanism is a science confided only to an initiated priesthood ; and the Vedas and the Shastras in which its precepts are embodied are kept with jealousy from the profane eye of the people. Buddhism, rejoicing in its universality, aspires to be the rehgion of the multitude, throws open its sacred pages without restriction, and encourages their perusal as a meritorious act of devotion. The despotic ministers of Brahma affect to be versed only in arcana and mystery, and to issue their dicta from oracular autho- rity ; but the priesthood of Buddha assume no higher functions than those of teachers of ethics, and claim no loftier title than that of " the clergy of reason."^ In the character of the Singhalese people there is to be traced much of the genius of their rehgion. The same passiveness and love of ease which restrain from active exertion in the labours of life, find a counterpart in the adjustment by which virtue is limited to abstinence, and ^ IIartakd's History of the IVes- In/an llission in Ceylon, Introd., p. iii. "^ The sect of the Lao 7'sen, or '' Doctors of Reason," whom Lan- DitESSE regards as a de'\ehipment of Buddhism, prevailed in Thibet and the comitries Ijang between China and India in the fifth and sixth cen- turies ; and Fa IIian always refers to them as the " Cleryy of Rcasmi^ — Fod Koue Ki, chap, xxxviii. 544 BUDDHISM AND DEMON-WOKSHIP. [Part IV. worship to contemplation ; Avitli only so much of actual ceremonial as may render visible to the eye what would be otherwise inaccessible to the mind. The same love of repose which renders sleep and insensibihty the richest blessings of this hfe, anticipates torpor, akin to extinction, as the supremest fehcity of the next. In common with all other nations they deem some form of rehgious wor- ship indispensable, but, contrary to the usage of most, they are singularly indifferent as to what that particular form is to be ; leaving it passively to be determined by the conjunction of circumstances, the accident of locality, and the influence of friends or worldly prospects of gain. Still, in the hands of the Christian missionary, they are by no means the plastic substance which such a descrip- tion would suggest — capable of being moulded into any form, or retaining permanently any casual im- pression— but rather a yielding fluid which adapts its shape to that of the vessel into which it may happen to be poured, without any change in its quahty or any mo- dification of its character. From this unexcitable temperament of the people, com- bined with the exalted morals which form the articles of their belief, result phenomena which for upwards of three hundred years have more or less baftled the exertions of all who have laboured for the overthrow of their national superstition and the elevation of Christianity in its stead. The precepts of the latter, when offered to the natives apart from the divinity of their origin, present something in appearance so nearly aldn to their own tenets that they were slow to discern the superiority. If Christianity re- quires purity and truth, temperance, honesty and bene- volence, these are already discovered to be enjoined with at least equal impressiveness in the precepts of Buddha. The Scripture commandment forbidding murder is sup- posed to be analogous to the Buddhist prohibition to kilP; 1 The order of Eiiddlia not to take away life is imperative and unqua- lified as regards the priesthood ; but to inanliind in general it forms one of his " iSikshnpada," or advices, and ad nits of modification under certain CiiAr. XI.] CHRISTIAN CONVERTS FEW. 5i5 and where tlie law and the Gospel alilce enforce the love of one's neighbour as the love of one's self, Buddhism insists upon charity as the basis of worship, and calls on its own followers " to appease anger by gentleness, and overcome evil by good."^ Thus the outward concurrence of Christianity in those points on which it agrees with their own rehgion, has proved more embarrassing to the natives than then' per- plexity as to others in which it essentially differs ; till at last, too timid to doubt and too feeble to inquire, they cling with helpless tenacity to tliek own superstition, and yet subscribe to the new faith simply by adding it on to the old. Combined with this state of irresolution a serious ob- stacle to the acceptance of reformed Christianity by the Singhalese Buddhists has arisen from the differences and disagreements between the various churches by whose ministers it has been successively offered to them. In the persecution of the Eoman Cathohcs by the Dutch, the subsequent supercession of the Church of Holland by that of England, the rivalries more or less apparent between the Episcopahans and Presbyterians, and the pecuharities which separate the Baptists from the Wesleyan Methodists — all of whom have their missions and representatives in Ceylon — the Singhalese can discover httle more than that they are offered something still doubtful and unsettled, in exchange for which they are pressed to surrender their contingencies. A priest who should take away the life of an animal, or even an insect, under any circum- stances, would be giiilty of the offence denominated PachiUn/a, and subject to penal discipline ; but to take away human life, to be accessoiy to murder, or to encoiu'age to suicide, amounts to the sin of Parajika,, and is visited "udth permanent expulsion from the order. As regards the laity, the use of animal food is not forbidden, pro- vided the individual has not him- self been an agent in depriving it VOL. I. N of life. The doctrine of prohibition, however, although thus regulated, like many others of the Buddhists, by subtleties and sophistry, has proved an obstacle in the way of tlie Mission- aries ; and, coupled with the permis- sion in the Scriptures " to slay and eat," it has not failed to operate pre- j udicially to the spread of Christianity. ^ From the Singhalese book, the " Dharmma Padan,'''' or Footsteps of TJeligion, portions of which are trans- lated in " T]ie Friend;' Colombo, 1840. N 54G BUDDHISM AND DEMON-WOHSHIP. [Part IV. own ancient superstition. Conscious of tlieir inability to decide on what has baffled the wisest of their European teachers to reconcile, they hesitate to exchange for an apparent uncertainty that which has been unhesitatingly beheved by generations of their ancestors, and which comes recommended to them by all the authority of an- tiquity ; and even when truth has been so far successful as to shake their confidence in their national faith, the choice of sects which has been offered to them leads to utter bewilderment as to the peculiar form of Christianity with which they may most confidingly replace it.^ ^ A narrative of the efFoi-ts made by tlie Portuguese to introduce Cliristianity, and by the Dutch to establish the reformed Religion, will be foimd in Sii- J. Emerson Tennent's Cliristianity in Ceylon ; together ^vith an exposition of the systems adopted by the European and American mis- sions, and their influence on the Hindu and Buddhist races, respectively. Those who seek to pursue the study of Buddhism, its tenets and econo- mies, as it exhibits itself in Ceylon, will find ample details in the two profound works published by Mr. R. Spence Hardy : Eastern Mona- ckistn, Lond. 1850, and A 3Ianual of Buddhism, in its Modern Develojinient, Lond. 1853. PART V. M E D IJ] V A L II 1 S T 0 11 Y 549 CHAPTEE I. CEYLON AS KNOTN^ TO THE GREEKS AND ROMANS. Although mysterious rumours of the wealth and wonders of India had reached the Western nations in the heroic ages, and although travellers at a later period returning fi^om Persia and the East had spread romantic reports of its vastness and magnificence, it is doubtfid whether Ceylon had been heard of in Europe ' even ^ Nothing is more strikingly sug- gestive of the extended renown of Ceylon and of the different countries which maintained an intercourse with the island, than the number and dissimilarity of the names by which it has been lmo■^^l at various periods throughout Em-ope and Asia. So remarkable is this peculiarity, that Lassex has made " the names of Taprobane" the subject of several learned disquisitions (De Taprohane Insida refer, cogn. Dissert, sec. 2, p. 5 ; Indische Alterthuinskunde, vol. i. p. 200, note viii. p. 212, &c.) ; and Bttenouf has devoted two elaborate essays to their elucidation, Journ. Asiat. 1826, vol. viii. p. 129. Ihid., 1857, vol. xxxiii. p. 1. In the literatm-e of the Brahmans, Lanlia, from having been the scene of the exploits of Eama, is as re- nowned as Ilion in the great epic of the Greeks. " Taprobane," the name by which the island was first known to the Macedonians, is derivable from the Pali " Tamba panni." The ori- gin of the epithet will be foimd in the Mahmcanso, ch. vii. p. 56 f and it is further noticed in the present work. Vol. I. P. I. ch. i. p. 17, and P. III. ch. ii. p. 330. — It has like- wise been referred to the Sanskrit " Tambrapaiii;^' which, according to Lassen, means "the great pond," or *' the pond covered with the red lotus," and was probably associated with the gigantic tanks for which Ceylon is so remarkable. In later times Taprobane was exchanged for Simimdu, Palai-simimdu, and Salike, mider which names it is described by Ptolemy, the author of the Pen- plus, and by Mahciantjs of Hera- claja. Palai-simundu, Lassen con- jectm-es to be derived from the San- skrit Pcdi-simanta, " the head of the sacred law," from Ceylon having be- come the great centre of the Budd- hist faith (De Taprob., p. 16 ; Indi- sche Alter, vol. i. p. 200) ; and Salike he regards merely as a seaman's cor- ruption of " Sinhala or Sihala," the name chosen by the Singhalese them- selves, and signifying " the dwelling place of lions." Bttrnouf suggests whether it may not be Sri-Lanka, or "Lanka the Blessed." Sinhala, ■with the suffix of " diva," or "dwipa" (island), was subsequently converted into " Silan-dwipa " and "Seren-diva," whence the " Serendib" of the Arabian na^-igators and their romances ; and this in later times was contracted into Zeilan by the Portuguese, Ceylan by the Dutch, and Ceylon by the English. Yixcent, in his Commentary on tlie Periplus of the Erythrcean Sea, vol. ii. p. 493, has enumerated a variety of other names borne by the island; and to all these migiit be further added 550 MEDIAEVAL HISTORY. [Part V. by name till the companions of Alexander the Great, retm^ning from his Indian expedition, brought back accounts of what they had been told of its elephants and ivory, its tortoises and marine monsters.^ So vague and uncertain was the information thus obtained, that Strabo, writing upwards of two cen- turies later, manifests irresolution in stating that Taprobane was an island ^ ; and Pomponius Mela, who wrote early in the first century of the Christian era, quotes as probable the conjecture of Hipparchus, that it was not in reality an island, but the commencement of a south-eastern continent ^ ; an opinion which Pliny records as an error that had prevailed previous to his own time, but wliich he had been enabled to correct by the information received from the ambassador who had been sent from Ceylon to the Emperor Claudius.* In the treatise De Mundo^ which is ascribed to Aris- totle ^, Taprobane is mentioned incidentally as of less size than Britain ; and this is probably the earhest his- those assigned to it in China, in Siam, in Hindustan, Kashmir, Persia, and otlier countries of the East. The learned ingenuity of Bochaet ap- plied a Hebrew root to expound the origin of Taprobane {Geocjr. Sac. lib. ii. ch. xxviii.) ; but the later re- searches of TiTRNOim, BtTRNOTTF, and Lassen have traced it with certainty to its Pali and Sanskrit origin. ^ GossELiN, in his Recherches sur la Geographie des Anciens, torn. iii. p. 291, says that Onesicritus, the pilot of Alexander's fleet, " avoit visite la Taprobane pendant un nouveau voyage qu'il eut ordre de faire." If so, he was the first Euro- pean on record who had seen the island ; but I have searched unsuc- cessfully for any authority to sustain this statement of Gosselin. ^ Strabo, 1. ii. c. i. s. 14, c. v. s. 14, ilvni (j)a/s, Koktroq, from tlie estuaries, to which he gives the epithet of "lakes," Xtjxrjv. Of the former he particularises two, the position of which would nearly correspond with the Bay of Trincomalie and the har- bour of Colombo. Of the latter he enumerates five, and from their posi- tion they seem to represent the pecu- liar estuaries formed by the conjoint influence of the rivers and the cur- rent, and known by the Ai-abs by the term oi" f/obbs.^' A description of them wiU be foimd at Vol. I. Part I. ch. i. p. 43. ^ May it not have an Egyptian origin " Siela-Keh/' the land of Sicla? ^ The description of Taprobane given by Ptolemy proves that the island had been thoroughly circum- navigated and examined by the ma- riners who were his informants. Not having penetrated the interior to any extent, their reports relative to it are confined to the names of the prin- cipal tribes inhabiting the several divisions and provinces, and the po- sition of the metropolis and seat of government. But respecting the coast, their notes were evidently mi- nute and generally accurate, and from them Ptolemy was enabled to enumerate in succession the bays, rivers, and harbours, together with the headlands and cities on the sea- borde in consecutive order ; beginning at the northern extremity, proceed- ing southward down the western coast, and returning along the east to Point Pedro. Although the ma- jority of the names which he sup- plies are no longer susceptible of identification on the modem map, some of them can be traced with- out difficulty — thus his Ganges is still the Mahawelli-ganga ; his Ma- agrammuni would appear, on a first glance, to be Mahagam, but as he calls it the " meti-opolis," and places it beside the great river, it is evidently Biutenne, whose ancient name was " Maha-yangana" or " Ma- ha-welli-gam." His Anurogrammum, which he calls jScktIXhov, " the royal residence," is ob^-iously Anaraja- poora, the city foimded by Anuradha five himdred years before Ptolemy was born (^3Iahawanso, ch. vii. p. 50, X. 65, &c.). It may have borne in his time the secondary rank of a vil- lage or a town (gatn or gramnui), and aftei-wards acquired the higher epi- thet of Amiradha-;joo?-«, the " city " of Anuradha, after it had grown to the dimensions of a capital. The province of the 3Iodntti in Ptolemy's list has a close resemblance in name, though not in position, to Mantotte ; the people of Rayagam Corle still occupy the coimtry assigned by him to the Rhogandani — his Naga dibit are identical with the Nagadiva of the Malunonnso ; and the islet to which he has given the name of Bassa, occupies nearly the position of the Basses, which it has been the custom to believe were so called by the Portuguese — " Baxos " or "Bai- xos," sunken rocks. It is cmious IliirfUiul'it)] p.Hro GaEbiR-oiii.( ^1 4 TAPROBANE OR SAUKE . (CEYLON ) accordiiui to Ptolemy andniiiy. ir.B.The modem }fam£S arecfiyen in Iialus. Bv .■rir J. Emerson Torment . Ovilodiitti Emporinm UitchiaveUv' M O D IT T T I AnurosTammuniR^flia/ O "^ Pake siiSimdum - Thm •")<, ^ f Jnaraja Voora I S e U n H \\ lontesFli "" SoanaFLi JFontes'FliiviLJ fioapiaisj 7_|ErasodesSin,y\ JovisEcom* CeXomho \ \^BizaU>Portus ^.disamuni DIORDTJLl or , ' il O R D IT L 1 ■Maagramnmni ifrtropolw's. i^isPortus ttfiaiioa.', ( s i i/'^aratha M-A-."l^.^.'iE Hfo ^ f^ ^\ OJ^ *B O.C A N 1 iiardiorMor3u\i Vortos ^ Bentottei wy __.y»-.,.^ ' Hodoka^ jtuxode* \ Amuu PtoittV Point de Oalu; ■' Bocana^ f«vXot. 5 Probably that at Mihintala, the sacred hill near Anarajapoora. Chap. I.] COSIilAS INDICO-rLEUSTES. .000 " As its position is central, the island is the resort of ships from all i)arts of India, Persia, and Etliiopia, and, in hke manner, many are despatched from it. From the inner ^ countries ; I mean China, and other eni- porimns, it receives silk^ aloes, cloves, clove-wood, chan- dana^, and whatever else they produce. These it again transmits to the outer ports \ — I mean to Male ^, whence the pepper comes ; to Calhana^, where there "is brass and sesamine-Avood, and materials for dress (for it is also a place of great trade), and to Sindon^, where they get musk, castor, and androstackum^, to Persia, the Homeritic coasts^, and Adule. Eeceiv- ing in return the exports of those emporiums, Tapro- bane exchanges them in the inner ports (to the east of Cape Comorin) sending her own produce along with them to each. " Sielediba, or Taprobane, Ues seaward about five days' sail from the mainland. ^^ Then further on the continent is Marallo, which furnishes cochlea ^^ ; then comes Kaber, ^vliich exports ' alahandanum ;'^- and next is the clove country, then China, which ex- ports silk ; beyond which there is no other land, for the ocean encircles it on the east. Sielediba being thus placed in the middle as it were of India, and pos- ^ " To)v ivSoTEpu)}'," the countries in- side (tliat is to the east) of Cape Comoriu^ as distinguished from the outer ports (rd t^ojrepa) mentioned below, which lie west oi it. '-^ ^' fitTat.tv." Of this foreign word, applied by the media3val Greeks to silk in general, as well as to raw silk, Pkocopitjs says : — " Ajjr// Sk tanv y jxkTaia, IX »)c tiwOaat t))v fa^ijra ipyci- Zkj'^ui, i/v TTciXai /i£j' "EXXjji'f^ iiijSiKiiv, ravvi' Sk arjpiKtjv oVo/tn^oyffi." — PliO- COP. Persic. I. 3Ietaxa, or anciently mata.va, " thread," "■ yarn," seems to be Latin rather than Greek. The wje- taxarius was a " yam-broker ; " and the word having got possession of the market, was extended to the woven stuff. The modern Greeks call silk ^itTa'ia. 3 " rCdi'cnva,^' probably " sandal- wood ; " sometimes called ayallochum. ^ " rd i'Swrfpa," those lying west of Cape Comorin. ^ Malabar. 6 Bombay, ■^ Seiude. * " tivcpoffrci\i)t'. ' ^ Southern Ai-abia, chiefly Iladra- maut. ^'^ Cosnias probably means " the more distant ^jo/'^s on " the mainhmd of India. '^ " K-ox'Xi'oi'c," probably chank- shells, turbuiclla rapa. See ^Vbou- ZEYD, vol. i. p. G. *^ '^ dXa^avSavov" VOL. L P P 570 MEDIEVAL HISTORY. [Part V. sessing tlie hyacinth, receives goods from all nations, and again distributes them, thus becoming a great em- porium." This description of the Indian trade by Cosmas is singularly corroborative of the account that had pre- viously been given by the author of the Periplus ; and as the Singhalese have at all times been remarkable for their aversion to the sea, the country-craft\ thus men- tioned by both authorities as engaged in voyages between Ceylon and the countries east and west of Cape Comorin, must have been manned in part by Malabars, but chiefly by the Arabs and Persians, who, previous to the time of Cosmas, had been induced to settle in large numbers in Ceylon ^, attracted by the activity of its commerce, and the extensive employment for shipping afforded by its transit trade. Amongst the objects, the introduction of which was eagerly encourged in Ceylon, Cosmas particularises horses from Persia ; the traders in which were exempted from the payment of customs. The most remarkable exports were elephants, which from their size and sa- gacity were found to be superior to those of India for purposes of war. Hence the renown accorded to Ceylon, as pre-eminently the birthplace of the Asiatic race of elephants. " M/j76jOn 'Tanpotavriv 'Am)]yevtojv fXf^avTwr." DioNYSius Pekiegetes^ V. 593. Cosmas observes upon the smallness of their tusks com- pared Avith those of Africa, and mentions the strange fact, that ivory was then exported from Ethiopia to India, as well as to Persia and the countries of Europe. He makes other aUusions to Ceylon, but the passages extracted above, present the buU^ of his information concerning the island.^ 1 " roTTiKo, TrXoirt." — Perijylus. " Reinatjd, 3Icm. siir Vlncle, p. 124. and Introd. Aboulfeda. 2 The above translation has been made from Thevenot's version of Cosmas, which may differ slightly from that of MoNTFAXJCOisr, Collect. Nov, Patrum. Paris, 1700, vol. ii. p. Chap. I.] CEYLOX AS KXOWN TO THE PIIffiNICIAXS. 571 NOTE (A). Knoiuledge of Ceylon possessed hjj the Pkveniclans. In the previous chapter, p. 526, &c., alhision has been made to the possible resort of the Phoenicians to Ceylon in the course of their voyages to India, but I have not thought it expedient to embody in the text any notice of the description of the island which is given in the Phoenician History of Sanchoniatiion, published by Wagenfeld, at Bremen, in 1837, under the title of " Sanchiiniathonls Historiarum Phoenicicv Lihri Kovem Greece Versos a Philone Byhlio, edidit Latinaque Versione do- navit F. Wagenfeld/' Sanchoniathou is alleged to have lived before the Trojan war ; and in Asiatic chronology he is said to have been a contemporary of Semiramis. The Phosnician original perished ; but its contents were preserved in the Grreek translation of Philo, a native of By- blus, a frontier town of Phoenicia, who wrote in the first cen- tury after Christ, and till the alleged discovery of the MS. from which Wagenfeld professed to publish, the only portion of Philo's version kno\vn to exist consisted of fragments preserved by Eusebius and Porphyry. Wagenfeld's statement was, that the MS. in his possession had been obtained from the Portuguese monastery of St. Maria de Merinhao (the existence of which there is reason to doubt), and the portion which he first ven- tured to print appeared with a preface by Grotefend. Its ge- nuineness was instantly impugned ; a learned and protracted controversy arose ; and though Wagenfeld eventuallj^ pub- 336. In point of time, the notice of Ceylon given by the Armenian Arch- bishop Moses of Chorene in his His- toria Armeniaca ct JSpitotne Geor/ra- pJiicp, is entitled to precede that of Cosnias Indico-pleustes, inasmuch as Moses has transhited into Armenian the Greek text of Pappus of Alex- andria, who wrote abaut the end of the fourth century. Of Ta- probane he says — it is one of the largest islands in the world, being 1100 miles in length by 1500 broad, and reckons V-MQ adjacent islands amongst its dependencies. lie al- ludes to its mountains and rivers, the variety of races which inhabit it, and its production of gold, silver, gems, spices, elephants, and tigers ; and dwells on the fact, previously noticed by Agathemerus, that the men of this country dress their hair after the fashion of women, by braid- ing it in tresses on the top of their heads, " viri regionis istius capillis muliebribus sua capita redimimit." — Moses Cdoeeneksis, &c., edit. Whis- ton, 1736, p. 367. The most remark- able circumstance is that he alludes thus early to the footprint on Adam's Peak, which is probably the meaning of his expression, *' ibidem iSatance lapsum narmnt" t. iv. r p 2 572 MEDIEVAL HISTORY. [Part V. lished the whole of the Greek MS., with a Latin version by himself, he was never prevailed upon to exhibit the original parchments, alleging that he had been compelled to restore them to the convent. The assailants of Wagenfeld accuse him of wilful deception ; but the jDrobability is that the document which he translated is one of those inventions of the Middle Ages, in which history and geography were strangely confounded with imagination and romance ; and that it is an attempt to restore the lost books of Philo Byblius, as Philo himself is more than suspected to have invented the history which he professed to have translated from Sanchoniathon. (See Eescii and Gtruber's Encyclo'pmdia, 1847 ; Mover's Phoenician His- tory, vol. i. p. 117.) In books vii. and viii., Sanchoniathon gives an account of an island in the Indian seas explored by Tyrian naviga- tors, the description of which is evidently copied from the early Greek writers who had visited Taprobane, and the name which is assigned to it, " the Island of RachiusJ^ is borrowed from Pliny. The period of their visit is fixed by Sanchoni- athon shortly after the conquest of Cittium, in Cyprus, by the Phoenicians ; an event which occurred when Hiram reigned at Tyre, and Solomon at Jerusalem. The narrative is given as follows (book vii. ch. v. p. 150) : " So Bartophas died the next day, having exercised imperial authority for six years." (Ch. V.) " And on his death they chose Joramus, the son of Bartophas, king, whom the Tyrians styled Hierbas, and who reigned fifty-seven years. He having collected seventy-nine long ships, sent an expedition against Cittium." . . . (Ch. vi.) " At this time, Obdalius, king of the island of Mylite, sent all his forces to assist the Tyrians at Cittium ; and when it came to the knowledge of the barbarians who inhabited Tonga, that the island was denuded of men and ships, they invaded it under the command of Plusiacon, the son-in-law of Obdalius, and having slain him and many of his people, they plundered the country, and gave the city to the flames." (Ch. vii.) " And Joramus directed all the eparchs in the cities and islands to make out and send to Tyre descriptions of the inhabitants, their ships, their arms, their horses, their scythe-bearing chariots, and their property of all kinds ; and he ordered them to send to distant countries persons competent to draw up nar- ratives of the same kind, and to record them all in a book. In this manner he obtained accurate geographical descriptions of Chap. I.] CEYLOX AS KNOWN TO THE rilOENICIANS. 573 all the regions to the east and the west, both islands and inland parts. But the ^Ethiopians ^ represented to the king that to the south there were great and renowned countries, densely popu- lated, and rich in precious things, gold and silver, pearls, gems, ebony, pepper, elephants, monkeys, parrots, peacocks, and in- numerable other things ; and that there was a peninsula so far to the east that the inhabitants could see the sun rising out of the sea." (Ch. viii.) " Joramus then sent messengers to Natam- balus, the king of the Babylonians, who were to say to him, ' I have heard that the coimtries of the /Ethiopians are numerous, and abounding in inhabitants ; they are easy of access from Babylon, but very difficult from Tyre. If, therefore, I should determine to explore them, and you will let my subjects have suitable ships, you shall have in return a hundred purple cloaks.' Natambalus was willing to do so ; but the Ethiopian merchants, who resorted to Babylon, vowed that they would take their departure if he should assist Joramus to sail to /Ethiopia.'" (Chap, ix.) " Subsequently Joramus addressed him- self to Irenius of Judea, and undertook that if he would let the Tyrians have a harbour on the sea towards .Ethiopia, he would assist him in the building of a palace, in which he was then engaged ; and bind himself to supply him with materials of cedar and fir, and squared stones. Irenius assenting, made over to Joramus the city and harbour of Ilotha. There were a great many date trees there, but as their timber was not suit- able for constructing vessels, Joramus despatched eight thou- sand camels to Ilotha, loaded with materials for ship-buildino-, and ordered the shipwrights to build ten ships, and he ap- pointed Cedarus and Jaminus and Cotilus, commanders. . . . They sailed from Ilotha ; but furious tempests prevented them from passing the straits.^ And wdiile they were wind-bound, they remained five months in a certain island, and havin"- sowed wheat on the low ground, they reaped an abundant crop. After this they sailed towards the rising sun, and leaving the land of the Arabians they fell in with Bab3donian ships re- turning from ^thiopia.^ And on the following day they arrived at the country of the /Ethiopians, which they perceived sandy and devoid of water on the coast, but mountainous in- land. They then sailed eastward along the shore for ten days. ' The .-Etliiopiaiis alluded to were u company of Indian jugglers and snuke-chamiers, whose arrival from Babylon is mentioned lib. vii. ch. i. ^ Of Bab-el-maudeb. ^ India. V V S 574 MEDIiEVAL HISTOEY. [Part V. There an immense region extends to the south, and the Ethi- opians dwell in numerous populous and well-circumstanced cities, and navigate the sea. Their ships are not suited for war, and have no sails. And having sailed thirty-six days to the southward, the Tyrians arrived at the island of Rachius (^'Pa^lou v>]Vov)." (Ch. 9.) " The roadvstead was in front of a level strand, bord- ered with lofty trees, and coming on to blow at night, they were in the utmost danger till sunrise : but running then to the south, they came in sight of a safe harbour^ ; and saw many populous towns inland. On landing, they were surrounded by the villagers, and the governor of the place entertained them hospitably for seven days ; pending the return of a messenger whom he had despatched to the principal king, to ask his in- structions relative to the Tyrians who had anchored in the harbour. The messenger having returned on the seventh day, the governor sent for the Tyrians the following morning, and informed them that they must go with him to the king, who was then residing at Eochapatta, a large and prosperous city in the centre of the island. In front marched several spearmen, sent by the king as a guard of honour to the strangers ; who with the clash of their spears scared away the elephants which were numerous and dangerous because it was their rutting time. The Tyrians marched in the centre, and Cedarus, Cotilus, and Jaminus were carried in palanquins. The vil- lagers as they paussed along offered them presents, and the governor brought up the rear, where he rode on an elephant, surrounded by his body guard. In this order of march, they on the third day came to a ford ; in the passage over which, one of the travellers was devoured by crocodiles which swarm in the i-ivers. Having proceeded thus for several days, they at length descried the city of Eochapatta, environed by lofty mountains. And when it was known that they had arrived (for the rumour of their approach had preceded them) the in- habitants rushed from the city in a body to see the Tyrians ; some riding on elephants, some on asses, some in palan- quins, but the greater part on foot. And the commander having conducted them into a spacious and splendid palace, caused the gates to be closed, that the crowd might not make their way in; and led the Tyrians to the King Eachius, who was seated on a beautiful couch. Presents were then inter- ' Guile? Chap. I.] CEYLON AS KNOWN TO THE rilffiNICIANS. 575 changed. To the Tyrians, who bronglit horses and purple robes, and seats of cedar, the King gave in return, pearls, gold, 2000 elephants' teeth, and much unequalled cinnamon (xiwaixco TToAAcw T£ xa.) 8(«(p;p!3VT») ; and he entertained them as guests for thirty days." (Ch. xi.) " Some of the Tyrians perished in the island, one indeed by sickness, but the others smitten by the gods. One man, picking up some pellets of sheep's dung, drew lines on the sand, and challenged another who happened to be looking on, to play a game with them. The challenger held the sheep's dung, but the other, who could not find any dung of camels (for there are no camels in that island), took cow-dung, of which there was a great quantity, and rolling up little balls of it, placed them on the lines. But a priest who was present warned them to desist, because cow-dung is sacred among them, but they only laughed. So the priest passed on, and they continued their game, but shortly after, both fell down and expired, to the consternation of the bystanders. One of those who died was a native of Jerusalem." (Ch. xii.) "The sea encircles this great island of Eachius on every side, except that to the north and west there is an isthmus which a fords a passage to the opposite coast. Baaut constructed this place by heaping up mud, and her footprint is still to be seen in the mountain (J^g xa.) i%vof Icttjv sv toTj opoij). " And the great king traced his descent from her race. The island is six days' journey in breadth, and twelve days' journey in length. It is populous and delightful. Its natural produc- tions are magnificent, and the sea furnishes fish of the finest flavour, and in the greatest abundance, to the inhabitants of the coast. Wild beasts are numerous in the mountains, of which elephants are the largest of all. There is also the most fragrant of cassia (xacia. Ss rj afoojji,ciiTtKmTa.TT^^. " They find stones containing gold in the rivers, and pearls on the sea-shore. Four kings govern the island, all subordinate to the paramount sovereign, to whom they pay as tribute, cassia, ivory, gems, and pearls ; for the king has gold in the greatest abundance. The first of these kings reigns in the south, where there are herds of elephants, of which great numbers are cap- tured of surprising size. In this region the shore is inhos- pitable, and destitute of inhabitants, but the city, in which the governor resides, lies inland, and is said to be large and flourishing. The second king governs the western regions which produce cinnamon (tcuv Trpog k(nrepav TSTpix[jt.iJ.svMv tmv xmciu.u)l/.out this is at A^ariance with the testimony of CosMAS Indico-pleustks, as well as of Hamza of Ispahan and others. " IlAMZAlsPAHANENSIS,^««a/.Vol. ii. c. 2. p. 43. Petropol, 1848, 8vo. Eeinaud, Memoire surVInde, p. 124. ^ There is an obscure sentence in Pliny which would seem to imply that the Arabs had settled in Ceylon before the first century of our Chris- tian era : — " Regi cidtum Liberi patris, cceteris Arabum.'' — Lib. vi. c. 22. 580 MEDIzEVAL HISTORY. [Part V. ventured to trust to them, began in the fourth and fifth centuries to estabhsh themselves as merchants at Cambay and Surat, at Mangalore, Cahcut, Coulam, and other Malabar ports \ whence they migrated to Ceylon, the government of whicli was remarkable for its tolera- tion of aU religious sects ^, and its hospitable reception of fugitives. It is a curious circumstance, related by Beladory, who lived at the court of the Khalif of Bagdad in the ninth century, that an outrage committed by Indian pirates upon some Mahometan ladies, the daughters of traders who had died in Ceylon, and whose families the King Daloopiatissa II., a.d. 700, was sending to their homes in the valley of the Tigris, served as the plea under which Hadjadj, the fanatical governor of Irak, directed the first Mahometan expedition for subjugating the vaUey of the Indus.^ From the eighth till the eleventh century the Persians and Arabs continued to exercise the same influence ^ GiLDEMEiSTEK, Scriptoivs Arahi de Hebifs IncUci's, p. 40. ~ Edeisi, torn. i. p. 72. ^ The chief of the Indus was the Buddhist Piiuce Daher, whose capital was at Daybal, near the modern Karachee. The story, as it appears in the IMS. of Beladory in the library of Leyden, has been ex- tracted by Eeinaijd in his FrcifpHms Arahcs et Persans relatifs a Vlnde, No. V. p. 161, with the following- translation : — " Sous le gouvernement de Mo- hammed, le roi de I'ile du Rubis (Djezyi-et-Alyacout) offrit a Iladjadj des femmes nmsulmanes qui avaient re9u le jour dans ses etats, et dont les peres, li\Tes a la profession du commerce, etaient morts. Le prince esperait par la gagner I'amitie de Iladjadj ; mais le navire oil Ton avait embarque ces femmes fut at- taque par ime peuplade de race Meyd, des environs de Daybal, qui etait montee sur des barques. Les Meyds enleverent le navire avec ce qu'il renfermait. Dans cette extremite, une de ces fennnes de la tribu de Yarl^oua, s'ecria : ' Que n'es-tu la, oh Hadjadj !' Cette nouvelle etant par- venue a Iladjadj, il repondit : ' Me voila.' Aussitot il euvoya im depute a Daher pour I'inviter a faire mettre ces femmes en liberte. Mais Daher repondit : ' Ce sont des pirates qui ont enleve ces femmes, et je n'ai aucune autorite sur les ravisseurs.' Alors Hadjadj engagea Obeyd Allah, fils de Nabhan, a faire une expedition contre Daybal."— P. 100. The " Island of Rubies" was the Persian name for Ceylon, and in this particular instance Feeishta con- firms the identical application of these two names, vol. ii. p. 402. See Journal Asiat. vol. xlvi. p. 131, 163 Reinatjd, Mem. sur Vlnde, p. 180 Relation des Voyages, Disc. p. xli, Aboulfeda, Introcl. vol. i. p ecclxxxv. ; ELrniNSTONE's India, b V. ch. i. p. 260. CiiAi'. II.] IXDIAN, ARABIAX, PERSIAN AUTHORITIES. ;si over the opulent commerce of Ceylon wliicli was after- wards enjoyed by the Portuguese and Dutch in succession between a.d. 1505, and the expulsion of the latter by the British hi a.d. 179G. Dming this early period, there- fore, we must look for the continuation of accounts regarding Ceylon to the hterature of the Arabs and the Persians, and more especially to the former, by whom geography was first cultivated as a science in the eighth and ninth centuries under the auspices of the Khalifs Ahnansour and Almamoun. On tiu:ning to the Arabian treatises on geography, it will be found that the Ma- hometan writers on these subjects were for the most part grave and earnest men who, though liable equaUy with the imaginative Greeks to be imposed on by their in- formants, exercised somewhat more caution, and were more disposed to confine their writings to statements of facts derived from safe authorities, or to matters which tliej^ had themselves seen. In their hands scientific geography combined theo- retic precision, which had been introduced by their pre- decessors, with the extended observation incident to the victories and enlarged dominion of the Khahfs. Ac- curate knowledge was essential for the ci\al govern- ment of their conquests ^ ; and the pilgrimage to Mekka, indispensable once at least in the hfe of every Maho- metan ^, rendered the followers of the new faith ac- quainted with many countries in addition to thek own.^ Hence the records of their voyages, though present- ^ " La science geographique, comme les autres sciences en general, notammement rastronomie, com- menfa a se former cliez les Arabes, dans la derniere nioitie du riii*^ siecle, et se fixa dans la premiere nioitie du ix". On fit usage des itineraires traces par les chefs des amiees con- querantes et des tableaux dresses par les gouverueiu's de provinces ; en meme temps on mit a la contri- bution les methodes propagees par les Indiens, les Persans, et siu'tout les Grecs, qui avaieut apporte le plus de precision dans leurs operations." — Reinatjd, Introd. Aboulfeda, i^'-c, p. xl. 2 PtEINAro, Introd. Abaidfeda, p. cxxii. 3 Ibid., vol. i. p. xl. 582 MEDIEVAL HISTORY. [Part V. ing numerous exaggerations and assertions altogether incredible, exhibit a superiority over the productions of the Greeks and Eomans. To avoid the fault of dulness, both the latter were accustomed to enUven their topographical itineraries, not so much by " moving accidents," and "hair-breadth 'scapes," as by minghng fanciful descriptions of monsters and natural pheno- mena, with romantic accounts of the gems and splen- dours of the East. Hence from Ctesias to Sir John Mandeville, every early traveller in India had his " hint to speak," and each strove to embelhsh his story by incorporating with the facts he had witnessed, im- probable reports collected from the representations of others. Such were their excesses in this du^ection, that the Greeks formed a class of " paradoxical " htera- ture, by collecting into separate volumes the marvels and wonders gravely related by their voyagers and his- torians.^ The Arabs, on the contrary, with sounder discretion, generally kept their " travellers' histories " distinct from their sober narratives, and whilst the marvellous in- cidents related by adventurous seamen were received as materials for the story-tellers and romancers, the staple of their geographical works consisted of truthful de- scriptions of the countries visited, their forms of govern- ment, their institutions, their productions, and their trade. In illustration of this matter-of-fact character of the Arab topographers, the most familiar example is that known by the popidar title of the Voyages of the ' Such are tlie Blirahiles Aus- cultationes of Ajristotle, the In- credihilia of Palephates, the His- toriarum 3IirahUmni Collectio of An- TIGONUS Caeystiits, t\\& Histori(P. 3Ii- rahiles of Apolloniits the Meagee, and the Collectious of Phlegon of Tralles, Michael Belixjs, and many other Greeks of the Lower Empire. For a succinct account of these compilers, see Westerman's Uapn- £ot6ypa(poi, Scrijjtores Merum Mira- hilimn Greed. Brunswick, 1839. Chap. II.] INDIAN, AKABIAN, PEESIAN AUTIIOEITIES. 583 two Mahometans\ who travelled in India and China in tlie beginning of the ninth century. The book pro- fesses to give an account of the countries lying between Bassora and Canton ; and in its unpretending style, and useful notices of commerce in those seas, it resembles the record, which the merchant Aerian has left us hi the Periplus, of the same trade as it existed seven centuries previously, in the hands of the Greeks. The early portion of the book, which was written A.D. 851, was taken down from the recital of Soley- man, a merchant who had frequently made the voy- ages he describes, at the epoch when the commerce of Bagdad, under the Khahfs, was at the height of its prosperity. The second part was added sixty years later, by Abou-zeyd Hassan, an amateur geographer, of Bassora (contemporary with Massoudi), from the reports of mariners returning from China, and is, to a great extent, an amphfication of the notices supphed by Soleyman. SoLEYMAN describes the sea of Herkend, as it lay between the Laccadives and Makhves'^, on the west, and swept round eastward by Cape Comorin and Adam's Bridge to Ceylon, thus enclosing the precious fishery for pearls. In Serendib, his earliest attention was devoutly directed to the sacred footstep on Adam's Peak ; in his name for which, '''' Al-rolioun" we trace the Buddhist name for the district, Eohuna, so often occur- ring in the Mahawanso.^ Tliis is the earhest notice of 1 It was first published by Renatt- DOT iu 1718, and from the luiique MS. now in the Bibliotheque ini- periale of Paris, and again by IIeinaitd in 1845, with a valuable discourse prefixed on the nature and extent of the Indian trade prior to the tenth century. — Relation des Voyages faits par Ics Arabes ct les Persatis dans Vlnde et Chine dans le ix^ Sihcle, ^'c. 2 vols. 18mo. Paris, 1845. ^ The " Divi" of Ammianus Mar- cellinus, who along with the Singha- lese '' Sclendivi" sent ambassadors to the Emperor Julian, 1. xxii. c. 7. ^ A portion of the district near Taugalle is known to the present day as '* lloima."—3Iahaivanso, ch, ix. p. 57 ; ch. xxii. p. 130; &c. 584 MEDLEVAL HISTORY. [Part Y. tlie Mussulman tradition, wliicli associates the story of Adam with Ceylon, though it was current amongst the Copts in the fourth and fifth centiuies.^ On all sides of the mountain, he adds, are the mines of rubies, hyacinths, and other gems ; the interior produces aloes ; and the sea the highly valued chank shells, which served the Indians for trumpets.^ The island was subject to two kings ; and on the death of the chief one his body was placed on a low carriage, with the head declining till the hair swept the ground, and, as it was di^awn slowly along, a female, with a biuich of leaves, swept dust upon the features, crying : " Men, behold your Idng, whose will, but yesterday, was law ! To-day, he bids farewell to the Avorld, and the Angel of Death has seized his spirit. Cease, any longer, to be deluded by the shadowy pleasures of hfe." At the conclusion of this ceremony, which lasted for three days, the corpse was consumed on a pyre of sandal, camphor, and aro- matic woods, and the ashes scattered to the winds.^ The widow of the Idng was sometimes burnt along with his remains, but comphance wdtli the custom was not held to be compulsory. Such is the account of Soleyman, but, in the second part of the manuscript, Abou-zeyd, on the authority of another informant, Ibn Waiiab, who had sailed to the same countries, speaks of the pearls of Ceylon, and adds, regarding its precious stones, that they were obtained in part from the soil, but chiefly from those points of the beach at which the rivers flowed into the sea and to which the gems are carried down by the torrents from the hills.* Abou-zeyd describes the frequent conventions of the heads of the national rehgion, and the attendance of ' See the account of Adam's Peak, Tol. II. Pt. VII. ch. ii. ^ Aboti-zeyD; Relation, ^-c, vol. i. p. 5. ^ Ih.j p. 50. The practice of burn- ino: the remains of the king's and of persons of exalted rank, continued as long as the native dynasty held the throne of Kandy. — See Knox's His- torical Relation of Ceylon, A.D. 1G81, Part iii. c. ii. 4 Ibiil, vol. i. p. 127. C;iAP. II.] IXDIAN, ARABIAX, TEIISIAX AUTHORITIES. 585 scribes to wiite down from tlieir dictation tlic doctrines of Buddhism, the legends of its prophets, and the precepts of its law. This statement has an obvious reference to the important events recorded in the Mahaicanso^ of the reduction of the tenets, orally de- livered by Buddha, to their ^vritten form, as they appear in the Pittahitayan ; to the translation of the Atthakatha, from Singhalese into Pali, in the reign of Mahanamo, A. D. 410-432 ; and to the singular care displayed, at all times, by the kings and the priesthood, to preserve authentic records of every event connected with the national rehgion and its history. Abou-zeyd adverts to the richness of the temples of the Singhalese, and to the colossal dimensions of their statues, and dwells with particularity on their toleration of all religious sects as attested by the existence there, in the ninth century, of a sect of Manichseans, and a community of Jews.^ ^ 3Iahmoanso, ch. xxxiii. p. 207 ; ch. xxx\'ii. p. 252. j ^ It was to Ceylon that the terri- fied worshippers of Siva betook them- 1 selves in their flight, when Mahmoud of Ghnznee smote the idol and over- threw the temple of Somnant, A. D. 1025. (Ferishta, transl. by Briggs, vol. i. p. 71 ; Rein Arc, Infrod. to Aboulfeda, vol. i. p. cccxlix. 3Ie- moires sur tlnde, p. 270.) Twenty yeai's previonsly, when the same orthodox invader routed the schis- matic Carmathians at Moultan, the fugitive chief of the Sheahs foimd an asylum in Ceylon. (Reinattd, Joiirn. Asiat., vol. xlv. p. 283 ; vol. xlvi. p. ] 29. ) The latter circumstance serves to show that the Mahometans in Ceylon have not been uniformly Sonnees, and it may probably throw light on a fact of much local interest connected with Colombo. Tliere for- merly stood there, in the Mahometan Cemetery, a stone ^^'ith an ancient inscription in Cufic characters, which no one could decipher, but which was said to record the virtues of a man of singidar virtue, who had arrived in the island in the tenth century. About the year 1787 A. D., one of the Dutch officials removed the stone to the spot Avhere he was building, " and placed it where it uoav stands, at one of the steps to his door." This is the accoimt given by Sir Alexander Johnston, who, in 1827, sent a copy of the inscription to the Royal Asiatic Society of London. Gilde- meister pronounces it to be wi'itten in Carmathic characters, and to com- memorate an Arab who died A. d. 848. " Karmathacis qu!e dicuntur Uteris exarata viro cuidam Arabo Mortuo, {)48 A. D. posita. Script. Arahi de Rihus Indicis, p. 51). A translation of the inscription by Lee was published in Trans. Soi/. Asicd. /Soc, vol. i. p. 545, from which it appears that the deceased, Khalid Ibn Abou Bakaya, distinguished him- self by obtaining " security for re- ligion, with other advantages, in the year 317 of the Hf^jira." Lee was disposed to think that this might be the tomb of the Iniaum Abu Abd VOL. I. Q Q 586 MEDIEVAL HISTOEY. [Part V. Ibn Wahab, his informant, appears to have looked back with singular pleasure to the delightful voyages which he had made through the remarkable still-Avater channels, elsewhere described, which form so peculiar a feature in the seaborde of Ceylon, and to which the Arabs gave the obscure term of " gobbs." ^ Here months were consumed by the mariners, amidst flowers and over- hanging woods, with the enjoyments of abundant food and exhilaratin.'T: drauo;hts of ariack flavoured with honey. The natives of the island were devoted to pleasure, and their days were spent in cock-fighting and games of chance, into which they entered with so much eagerness as to wager the joints of their fingers when all else was lost. But the most interesting passages in the narrative of Abou-zeyd are those which allude to the portion of Ceylon which served as the emporium for the active and opulent trade of which the island was then, in every sense of the word, the centre. Gibbon, on no other ground than its " capacious harbour," pronounces Trin- comalie to be the port which received and dismissed the fleets of the East and West.^ But the nautical grounds are even stronger than the historical for regarding this as improbable ; — the winds and the currents, as well as its geographical position, render Trinco- Allali, wlio first taught the Malio- metans the route by which pilgrims might proceed from India to the sacred footstep on Adam's Peak. But besides tlie discrepancy of the names, the Imaum died in the year A. D. 953, and was interred at Shiraz, where Ibn Batuta made a visit to his tomb. {Travels, transh DEFEEMEEf^ &c., tom. ii. p. 79^ Edkisi, in his Geography, writing- in the twelfth century, confirms the account of Abou-zeyd as to the toleration of all sects in Ceylon, and illustrates it by the fact, that of the sixteen officers who formed the comi- cil of the king, four were Buddhists, four Mussuhnans, four Christians, and four Jews. — Gildemeistek, Script. Arahi, S)'c., p. 53 j Edkisi, 1 dim. sec. 6. ^ '' A(/hhah,''' Arab. For an ac- count of those of Ceylon, see Vol. I. Pt. I. ch. i. p. 42. The idea enter- tained by the Arabs of these Gobbs, will be found in a passage iToni Albj'rouni, given by Reinaud, Frag- mens Arabes, ^-c, 119, and Journ. Asiat. vol. xlv. p. 261. See also Edkisi, Geog., tom. i. p. 73. ^ Decline and Fall, ch. xl. Chap. II.] IXDIAX, AEABIAN, PEESLYN AUTHORITIES. 587 malie diincult of access to vessels coming from the Eed Eea or tlie Persian Gulf; and it is evident from the narrative of Soleyman and Ibn Wahab, that ships avaihng themselves of the monsoons to cross the Indian Ocean, crept along the shore to Cape Comorin ; and passed close by Adam's Bridge to reach their destined ports. ^ An opinion has been advanced by Bertolacci that the entrepot was Mantotte, at the northern extremity of the Gulf of Manaar. Presuming that the voyages both ways were made through the Manaar channel, he infers that the ships of Arabia and India, rather than encounter the long delay of waiting for the change of the mon- soon to effect the passage, would prefer to " flock to the Straits of Manaar, and those which, from their size, coidd not pass the shallow water, wordd be unloaded, and their merchandise trans-shipped into other vessels, as they arrived from the opposite coast, or deposited in stores to await an opportunity of conveyance.""^ Hence Mantotte, he concludes, was the station chosen for such combined operations. But Beitolacci confines liis remarks to the Arabian and Indian crafts alone : he leaves out of consideration the ships of the largest size called in the Periplus xoT^avriio^fovTa^ wliich kept up the communication between the west and east coast of India, in the time of the Eomans, and he equally overlooks the great junks of the Chinese, which, by aid of the magnetic compass^, made bold passages from Java to Malabar, and from Malabar to Oman, — vessels which (on the authority of an ancient Arabic MS.) Eeinaud says carried from four to five hundi-ed men, witli ^ Abotj-zetd, vol. i. p. 128 ; Eei- NAtJD, Discows, Si'c, pp. Ix. — Ixix. 5 Introd. Aboulfeda, p. cclxii. "^ Bertolacci's Ceylon, pp. 18, 19. ^ The knowledge of the mariner's compass probably possessed by the Q Q 2 Chinese prior to the twelfth centuiy, is discussed by Klaproth iu his " Lcttre a 31. le Baron Humboldt sur rinvention de la boussole.^' Paiis, 1834. 58» MEDLEVAL HISTORY. [Part V. arms and naphtha, to defend themselves against the pirates of India.' On this point we have the personal testimony of the Chinese traveller Fa Hian, who at the end of the fourth century sailed direct from Ceylon for China, in a merchant vessel so large as to accommodate two hun- dred persons, and having in tow a smaller one, as a precaution against dangers by sea^ : — and Ibn Batuta saw, at Cahcut, in the fourteenth century, junks from China capable of accommodating a thousand men, of whom four hundred were soldiers, and each of these large ships was followed by three smaller.^ With vessels of such magnitude, it would be neither ex- pedient nor practicable to navigate the shaUows in the \dcinity of Manaar ; and besides, Mantotte, or, as it was anciently called, Mahatitta or Maha-totta, "the great ferry," although it existed as a port upwards of four hundred years before the Christian era, was at no period an emporium of commerce. Being situated so close to the ancient capital, Anarajapoora, it derived its notoriety from being the point of arrival and departure of the Malabars who resorted to the island ; and the only trade for wliich it aflbrded facihties was the occasional ' See the " Katab-al-adjajah, " probably -vNTitteu by Massotjdi. Rei- NAITD, Memoires sur Vlnde, p. 200 ; Relation et Disemirs, pp. Ix. Ixviii. ; Aboulfeda, Introd. cdxii. May not this early mention of the use of ''naphtha" by the Chinese for biuii- ing the ships of an enemy, throw some light on the disquisitions adverted to by GiBBO?^, ch. lii., as to the natiu-e of "the Greek fire,^'' so destructive to the fleets of their assailants during the first and second siege of Coustau- linople in the seventh and eighth centimes ? Gibbon says that the principal ingredient was naphtha, and that the Greek emperor learned the secret of its composition from a Sjiian who deserted from the service of the Khalif. Did the Khalif acquire the knowledge from the Chinese, whose ships, it appears, were armed with some preparation of this nature in their voyages to Bassora ? 2 Fue-kone-ki, ch. xl. p. .359. In a previous passage, Fa Hian describes the large vessels in which the ti'ade was carried between Tamlook, on the Hoogly, and Ceylon : — '' A cette epoque, des marchands, se mettant en mer avec de grands vaisseaux, firent route vers le sud-ouest ; et an commencement de I'hiver, le vent etant favorable, apres une navigation de quatorze nuits et d'autant de jours, on arriva au Hoyaume des Lions' — Ihid. chap, xxxvi. p. 328. ^ Ibn Batttta, Lee's 'translation, p. 172. Chap. II.] IXDIAN, AEABIAX, TERSIAX AUTHORITIES. 5S9 importation of tlie produce of the opposite coast of India. ^ It is not only probable, but almost certain that during the middle ages, and especially prior to the eleventh century, when the trade with Persia and Ai^abia was at its height, Mantotte afforded the facilities indicated by Bertolacci to the smaller craft that availed themselves of the Paumbam passage ; but we have still to ascertain the particular harbour which was the centre of the more important commerce between China and the West. That harbour I beheve to have been Point de Galle. Abou-zeyd describes the rendezvous of the ships arriv- ing from Oman, where they met those bound for the Persian Gulf, as lying half-way between Arabia and China. " It Avas the centre," he says, " of the trade in aloes and camphor, in sandal-wood, ivory and lead." ^ This emporium he denominates " Kalah," and when we remember that he is speaking of a voyage which he had not liimself made, and of countries then very imperfectly known to the people of the West, we shaU not be sur- prised that he caUs it an island, or rather a peninsula. According to him, it was at that period subject to the Maharaja of Zabedj, the sovereign of a singular kingdom of which httle is known, but which appears to have been formed about the commencement of the Christian era ; and which, in the eighth and ninth centuries, ex tended over the groups of islands south and west of Malacca, incluchng Borneo, Java, and Sumatra, which had become the resort of a vast population of Indians, Chinese, and Malays.^ The sovereign of this opulent empire had 1 Mahawanso, cli.Tii. p. 51 ; cli. xxv. p. 155 ; ch. XXXV. p. 217. * Aboit-zetd, Relation, Sfc, vol. i. p. 93 ; Reinattd, Disc. p. Ixxiv. ^ Journ. Asiat. vol. xlix. p. 206 ; Elphinstone's India, b. iii. t-li. x. p. 168 ; Reixafd, 3Iemoires sar rinde, p. 89 ; Introd. ABorLFEDA, p. cccxc. Baron Walckenaer has iiscertained, | xx^ni Q Q 3 fi"om tlie puranas and otiier Hindu sources, that the Great D^niasty of tlie Maharaja continued till A. D. (i'lS, after which the islands were sub- divided into numerous sovereipiities. See Major's Infrodacfion to the In- dian J'oi/a(/es in the Fifteenth Cen- tary, in the Ilukluyt Sue. Fubl. p. 590 MEDIAEVAL HISTORY. [Part V. brought under his dominion the territory of tlie King of Comar, the southern extremity of the Dekkan^, and at the period when Abou-zeyd wrote, he hkewise claimed the sovereignty of " Kalah." This incident is not mentioned in the Singhalese chro- nicles, but their silence is not to be regarded as conclu- sive evidence against its probability ; the historians of the Hindus ignore the expedition of Alexander the Great, and it is possible that those of Ceylon, indifferent to all that did not dhectly concern the rehgion of Buddha, may have felt httle interest in the fortunes of Galle, situated as it was at the remote extremity of the island, and in a region that hardly acknowledged a nominal allegiance to the Singhalese crown. The assertion of Abou-zeyd as to the sovereignty of the Maharaja of Zabedj, at Kalah, is consistent with the statement of Soleyman in the first portion of the work, that " the island was in subjection to two monarchs ; " ^ and this again agrees with the report of Sopater to Cosmas Indico-pleustes, who adds that the king who possessed the hyacinth was at enmity with the king of the country in which were the harbour and the great emporium.^ But there is evidence that the subjection of this por- tion of Ceylon to the chief of the great insular empire was at that period currently beheved in the East. In the " Garsharsj^-Namali" a Persian poem of the tenth century, by Asedi, a manuscript of which was in the possession of Sir Wilham Ouseley, the story turns on a naval expedition, fitted out by Delak, whose dominions extended from Persia to Palestine, and despatched at the request of the Maharaja against Baku, the King of 1 INIassotjdi relates the conquest of the kiugdoin of Coinar by the Maha- raja of Zabedj, nearly in the same words as it is told by Abou-zeyd; GiLDEMEiSTER, Script. Arab., pp. 145, 146. Reinatjd, Memoircii .wr Plnde, p. 225. ^ Relation, vol. i. p. 6. ^ At'io £i fiaaiXflt; tialv h' ry vijuo) ivavTioi dXXijXwt', 6 lig t'xaiJ' tuv liaKivGoi', Kal 6 irtpoi; rh fiipo^ to aWo iv w (cnl iinrvuioii ku'i )) \ijxvri' Cosmas Indic. CiiAr. II.] INDIAN, ARABLVN, PEESIAN AUTIIOEITIES. 591 Ceylon, and in tlie course of the narrative, Garsharsp and his fleet reach their destination at Kalah, and there achieve a victory over the " Sliah of Serendib." ^ It must be observed, that one form of tlie Arabic letter k is sounded like G, so that Kalah would be pro- nounced Gala} The identity, however, is estabhshed not merely by similarity of sound, but by the concurrent testimony of Cosmas and the Arabian geographers ^, as to the nature and extent of the intercourse between China and Persia, statements which are intelligible if referred to that particular point, but inapplicable to any other. Coupled with these considerations, however, the iden- tity of name is not without its significance. It was the habit of the Singhalese to apply to a district the name of the principal place within it ; thus Lanka, which m the epic of the Hindus was originally the ca- pital and castle of Eavana, was afterwards apphed to the island in general ; and according to the Mahawanso^ Tambapani. the point of the coast where Wijayo landed, came to designate first the Avooded country that sur- rounded it, and eventually the whole area of Ceylon.'^ In the same manner Galla served to describe not only the harbour of that name, but the district north and east of it to the extent of 600 square miles, and De Barros, De Couto, and Eibeyro, the chroniclers of the Portuguese in Ceylon, record it as a tradition of the island, that the inhabitants of that region had acquu^ed ^ Ottseley's Travels, vol. i. p. 48. 2 Kalah may possibly be identical with the Singhalese word f/ala, which means an " enclosnre," and the deeply bayed harbour of Galle woidd serve to jvistify the name. Galla signifies a rock, and this derivation would be equally sustained by the natural fea- tures of the place, and dangennis coral reefs which obstruct the entrance to the poi-t. 3 DuLATTRiEE, in the Journal Asiatkine for Sept. 184G, vol. xlix. p. 209, has brought together the authorities of Aboulfeda, Kazwini, and others, to show that Kalah nuist be situated in Ceylon, and he has combated the conjecture of M. Alfred Maury that it may be identical with Kedah in tlie Malay Peninsula. — Reinaud, Relation, cS'r. Disc, pp. xli. — Ixxxiv., Introcl. Aboulfeda, p. ccxviii. ■* MaJwuHinso, ch. vii. p. 50. 592 xMEDLEVAL HISTORY. [Part Y. tlie name of the locality, and were formerly known as " GaUas." ^ Galle therefore, in the earher ages, appears to have occupied a position in relation to trade of equal if not of greater importance than that which attaches to it at tlie present day. It was the central emporium of a com- merce which in turn enriched every comitry of Western Asia, elevated the merchants of Tyre to the rank of princes, fostered the renown of the Ptolemies, rendered the wealth and the precious products of Arabia a gor- geous mystery ^, fi'eighted the Tigris with " barbaric pearl and gold," and identified the merchants of Bagdad and the mariners of Bassora with associations of ad- venture and romance. Yet, strange to say, the native Singhalese appear to have taken no part whatever in this exciting and emiching commerce ; their name is never mentioned in connection with the immigrant races attracted by it to their shores, and the only allu- sions of travellers to the indigenous inhabitants of the island are in connection with a custom so remarkable and so pecuhar as at once to identify the tribes to whom it is ascribed with the remnant of the aboriginal race of Veddalis, Avhose descendants still haunt the forests in the east of Ceylon. Such is the aversion of this untamed race to any intercourse with civilised hfe, that when in want of the rude implements essential to their savage economy, they repair by night to the nearest village on the confines of their hunting-fields, and indicating by well- understood signs and models the number and form of the articles required, whether arrow-heads, hatchets, or cloths, they deposit an equivalent portion of dried deer's flesh or honey near the door of the dealer, and retire unseen to the jungles, returning by stealth within 1 A notice of tliis tribe will be found in another place. See Vol. II. Pt. VII. ell. ii. " . . . . intactis opiilentior Tbesanris Arabum, et clivitis Indite." Horace. Chap. 11.] LXDL'i:^', ARABIAN, PERSIAN AUTHORITIES. 593 a reasonable time, to cany away tlie maniifacturcd articles, which they find placed at the same spot in exchange. This singidar custom has been described without variation by nmnerous wiiters on Ceylon, both in recent and remote times. To trace it backwards, it is narrated, nearly as I have stated it, by Robert Knox in 1681 ^ ; and it is confirmed by Valentyn, the Dutch historian of Ceylon^; as well as by Eibeyro, the Portuguese, who wrote somewhat earher.^ Albyrouni, the geographer, who in the reign of Mahomet of Ghuznee, a.d. 1030, de- scribed this singular feature in the trade wdtli the island, of which he speaks under the name of Lanka, says that it was the beUef of the Arabian mariners that the parties with whom they held their mysterious deahngs were demons or savages.'^ ^ Knox, Historical Relation, ^-c, part iii. ch. i. p. G2. ^ Valentyn, Oud en Nieiiiv Oost- Indien, ch. iii. p. 49. ^ " Lorsqu'ils out besoin de baches oil de fleches, ils font un inodele avec des feiiilles d'arbre, et vont hx nuit porter ce modele, et la moitie d"im cerf oil d'uu sanglier, a la poi-te d'lin arnmrier, qui voyant le matin cette viaude pendue a su porte, s^ait ce que cela veut dire : il travaille aussi-tot et 3 jours apres il pend les fleches ou les baches au meme endroit ou etoit la viande, et la unit suivante le Beda les vient prendre." — Ribeteo, Hid. de Ceylan, A.D. 1G8G, ch. xxiv. p. 179. * "Les marins se reimissent pour dire que lorsque les navires sont arrives dans ces parages, quelques uns de I'equipage montent sur des cha- loupes et descendent a ten-e pour y deposer, soit de I'argent, soit des objets utiles a la persoune des habitans, tels que des pag'ues, du sel, etc. Le lende- niain, quand ils revieunent, ils trou- vent a la place de I'argent des pagnes et du sel, ime quautite de girofle d'lme valeur egale. On ajoute que ce commerce se fait avec des genies, oU; suivant d'autres, avec des hommes restesal'etatsauvage." — Albyroxtni, transl. by Reinaxjd, Introd. to Abofl- FEDA, sec. iii. p. ccc. See also Reinatjd, 3Iem. sur VInde, p. 343. I have before alluded (p. 538, w.) to the treatise De 3Io?-ibtts Brachma- nortini, ascribed to Palladius, one version of which is embodied in the spurious Life of Alexander the Great, written by the Pseudo-Callisthenes. In it the traveller from Thebes, who is the author's informant, states, that when in Ceylon, he obtained pepper from the Besadae, and succeeded in getting so near them as to be able to describe accurately their appearance, their low stature and feeble confi- guration, their large heads and shaggy imcut hair, — a description which in every particular .agrees with the aspect of the Veddahs at the present day. His expression that he succeeded in " getting near " them, lyi'^'ao-n tyyi'Q twj' Kiikoufni'ioi' Beadcwv, shows their propensity to conceal themselves even Avhen bring- ing the articles which they had col- lected in the woods to sell. — Pseudo- Callisthenes, lib. iii. ch. vii. Paiis, 184li, p. 103. 594 MEDI^^VAL HISTORY. [Pakt V. Concurrent testimony, to the same effect, is found in the recital of the Chinese Buddhist, Fa Hian, who in the third century describes, in his travels, the same strange pecuharity of the inhabitants in those days, whom he also designates " demons," who deposited, unseen, the -precious articles which they come down to barter with the foreign merchants resorting; to their shores.^ The cliain of evidence is rendered complete by a passage in Pliny, which, although somewhat obscure (facts relating to the Seies being confounded with statements regarding Ceylon), nevertheless serves to show that the custom in question was then well known to the Singhalese ambassadors sent to the Emperor Claudius, and was also fiuniliar to the Greek traders ' " Les marcliands des autres roy- aimies y faisaient le commerce : quand le temps de ce commerce ^tait venu, les genies et les demons ne paraissaieut pas ; mais ils met- taient en avant des choses precieuses dont ils marquaient le juste prix, — s'il convenait aiix niarchands, ceux- ci I'acquittaient et preuaient la mar- chandise." — Fa IIian, Foe-koue-ki. Transl. liEMrsAT, ch. xxxviii. p. 332. There are a midtitude of Chinese authorities to the same effect. One of the most remarkable books in any language is a Chiiiese Eu cyclopaedia •wliicli, under the title of Wen-hian- thoung-khao, or " Researches into ancient Monuments^'' contains a liis- tory of every ai't and science from the commencement of the empire to the era of tlie author Ma-toxjan-lin, who wrote in the thirteenth century. M. Stanislas Julien has published in the Journal Asiatique for Jidy 1836 a translation of that poHion of this gi'eat work which has relation to Ceylon. It is there stated of the aborigines that when " les marchauds des autres royaumes y veuaient com- niercer, ils ne laissaient jms voir leurs corps, et montraient au moyen de pierres precieuses le prix que pou- vaient valoir les merchandises. Les marchands venaient et en prenaieiit uue quantite equivalente a lem-s mar- chaudises." — Journ. Asiat. t. xxviii. p. 402; xxiv. p. 41. I have extracts from seven other Chinese works, written between the seventh and the twelfth centuries, in all of which there occurs the same account of Ceylon,— that it was formerly sup- posed to be inhabited by dragons and demons, and that when "mer- chants from all nations come to trade with them, they are invisible, but leave their precious wares spread out with an indication of the value set on them, and the Chinese take them at the prices stipulated." — Leang-shoo, "History of the Leang Dynasty," a.d. 630, b. liv. p. 13. Ndn-shh, " History of the Southern Empire," A.D. 650, p. xxxviii. p. 14. Jung- tce^i, " Cyclopfedia of History," a.d. 740, b. cxciii. p. 8. The Tae-phig, a " Digest of History," compiled by Imperial command, a.d. 983, b. dccxciii. p. 9. Tsih-foo-gnen-kwei, tlie " Great Depositary of the Na- tional Archives," A.D. 1012, b. cccclvi. p. 21. Sin-Jang-shoo, " New His- tory of the Tang'D\Tiasty," A.D. 1060, b. cxlvi. partii. p. 10. Wan-hcen-tung- Kivan, " Antiquarian Researches," A.D. 1319, b. cccxxxviii. p.' 24. I Chap. II.] INDIAN, ARABIAN, PERSIAN AUTHORITIES. 595 resorting to the island. The envoys stated, at Eome, that the habit of tlie people of their country was, on the arrival of traders, to go to "the fm'ther side of some river where wares and commodities are laid down by the strangers, and if the natives list to make exchange, they have them taken away, and leave other mer- chandise in heu thereof, to content the foreign mer- chant." ^ The fact, thus established, of the aversion to com- merce, immemorially evinced by the southern Singhalese, and of their desire to escape from intercourse with the strangers resorting to trade on thek coasts, serves to explain the singular scantiness of information regarding the interior of the island which is apparent in the writings of the Arabians and Persians, between the eighth and thirteenth centuries. Their knowledge of the coast was extensive, they were famihar with the lofty mountain which served as its landmark, they dwell with admiration on its productions, and record with particularity the objects of commerce which were to be found in the island ; but, regarding the Singhalese them- selves and their social and intellectual condition, little, if any, real information is to be gleaned fi'om the Oriental geographers of the middle ages. Albateny and Massoudi, the earhest of the Arabian geographers^, were contemporaries of Abou-zeyd, in the ninth century, and neither adds much to the description ^ Pliny, Nat. Hid., lib. vi. cli. j of India, of these German featnres ; ■ xxiv. Transl, Pliilenion Holland, I but uothiug- is yet known with cer- p. 130. This passage has been some- | taiuty of the tribe to which they times supposed to refer to the Sene, ' properly belonged." — Hist. Inland but a reference to the text will con- firm the opinion of M aetiantjs and SoLlNTis, that Pliny applies it to the Singhalese; and that the allusion to mid Maritime Discovery, vol. i. p. 71. ^ Probably the earliest allusion to Ceylon by any Arabian or Persian author, is that of Tabari, who was red hair and grey eyes, " rutilis j born in A.D. 838 ; but he limits his corais" and " caji'uleis oculis " applies j notices to an exaggerated account of to some northern tribes whom the [ Adam's Peak, " than which the Singhalese had seen in their over- j whole world does not contain a land journeys to China. " Later j mountain of greater height." — OusE- travellers," says Cooley, '' have like- ! ley's Travels, vol. i. p. 34, «. wise had glimpses, on the frontiers I 5G6 MEDIEVAL HISTORY. [Part V, of Ceylon, given in the narratives of " 77^6' two Mahome- tans" The former assigns to the island the fabulous dimensions ascribed to it by the Hindus, and only alludes to the ruby and the sapphire ^ as being found in the rivers that flow from its majestic mountains. Massoudi asserts that he visited Ceylon^, and describes^ from actual know- ledge, the funeral ceremonies of a king, and the increma- tion of his remains ; but as these are borrowed almost verbatim from the account given by Soleyman^, tliere is reason to beheve that he merely copied from Abou-zeyd the portions of the '"''Meadows of GolcV"^ that have rela- tion to Ceylon. In the order of time, this is the place to allude to another Ai'abian mariner, whose voyages have had a world-wide renov^ii, and who, more than any other author, ancient or modern, has contributed to famiharise Eiurope with the name and wonders of Serendib. I allude to " Sindbad of the Sea," whose voyages were first inserted by Galland, in his French translation of the " Thousand- and-one Nights^ Sinclbad, in his own tale, professes to have lived in the reign of the most illustiious Khahf of the Abbassides, — '' Sole star of all that place and time ;- And saw him, in his golden prime. The o-ood Haromi iVlraschid." But Haroun died, a.d. 808, and Sindbad's narrative is so manifestly based on the recitals of Abou-zeyd and Massoudi, that although the author may have lived ^ " Le rnbis ronge, et la pierre qui est conleur de ciel." Albateny, quoted by Reinaud, Introd. Abotjl- FEDA, p. ccclxxxv. ^ Massoitdi in Gildemeister, Script. Arab. p. 154. Gildemeister discre- dits the assertion of JVIassoudi, that he had been in Ceylon. (lb. p. lo-i, n.) He describes Kalah as an island distinct from Serendib. ^ Aboxj-zeyd, Relation, See, p. 50. * A translation of Massottdt's Meadows of Gold in English was begun by Dr. Sprenger for the " Oriental Translation Fund/' but it has not advanced beyond the first volume; which was published in 18-41. CuAP. II.] IXDIAX, AKABIAX, PEESIAN AUTHORITIES. 597 shortly after, it is scarcely possible that he could liave been a contemporary of the great ruler of Bagdad.^ One inference is clear, from the story of Sindbad, that Avhilst the sea-coast of Ceylon was known to the Arabians, the interior had been little explored by them, and was so enveloped in mystery that any tale of its wonders, however improbable, was sure to gain credence. Hence, what Sindbad relates of the shore and its inhabitants is devoid of exaggeration : in his first visit the natives who received Mm were Malabars, one of whom had learned Arabic, and they were engaged in irrigating then- rice lands from a tank. These are incidents which are characteristic of the north-western coast of Ceylon at the present day ; and the commerce, for which the island was remarkable in the nintli and tenth centmies is imphed by the expression of Sindbad, that on the occasion of his next voyage, when bearing presents and a letter from the Khahf to the King of Serendib, he embarked at Bassora in a ship, and with him " were many merchants." Of the Arabian authors of the middle ages the one who dwells most largely on Ceylon is Edrisi, born of a family who ruled over Malaga after the fall of the Khahfs of Cordova. He was a protege of the Sicilian king, Eoger the Norman, at whose deske he compiled his Geography, a.d. 1154. But with regard to Ceylon, his pages contain only the oft-repeated details of the height of the holy mountain, the gems found in its ravines, the musk, the perfumes, and odoriferous woods RrrxAUD notices the Ketab-ala- \ Nights'' Mitefiauinieut/^ Edrisi, Kaz- Jatfb, or " Book of AVonders," of MASSorDi, as one of the works whence the materials of Sindhad's Voyages were dra'WTi. {Ititi-ud. Abotjlfeda, Tol. i. p. Ixxvii.) Hole published in 1797 A.D. his learned Hemarks on the Origin of Sinclbad's Voyar/es, and in that work, as well as in Langle's edition of Sindbad ; and in the notes bv La>'E to hisversiou of the " Arabian wini, and many other writers are mentioned whose works contain pa- rallel statements. But though Edri^i and Kazwini wrote in the t^-elfth and thirteenth centuries, it does not follow that the author of Sindbad lived later than they, as both may have borrowed their illustrations from the same early som-ces. MEDIAEVAL HISTOEY. [Part V. which abound there. ^ He particularises twelve cities, but thek names are scarcely identifiable with any now known.^ The sovereign, who was celebrated for the mildness of his rule, was assisted by a council of sixteen, of whom four were of the national religion, four ChriS'- tians, four Mussulmans, and four Jews ; and one of the chief cares of the government was given to keeping up the historical records of the reigns of their kings, the lives of their prophets, and the sacred books of their law. Ships from China and other distant countries resorted to the island, and hither " came the wines of Irak, and Fars, which are purchased by the king, and sold again to his subjects ; for, unlike the princes of India, who encourage debauchery but strictly forbid wine, the King of Serendib recommends wine and prohibits de- bauchery." The exports of the island he describes as silk, precious stones of every hue, rock-crystal, diamonds, and a profusion of perfumes.^ The last of this class of writers to whom it is neces- sary to allude is Kazwini, who lived at Bagdad in the thirteenth century, and, from the diversified nature of his writings, has been called the Phny of the East. In his geographical account of India, he includes Ceylon, but it is evident from the details into which he enters of the customs of the court and the people, the burning of the widows of the kings on the same pile with their husbands, that the information he had received had been collected amongst the Brahmanical, not the Budd- hist portion of the people. This is confirmatory of the actual condition of the people of Ceylon at the period as shown by the native chronicles, the king being 1 Edeisi mentions, that at that period the sugai-cane was cultivated in Ceylon. ^ Marnaba, (llanaar ?) Aghna Perescoiiri, (Prriaforref) Aide, jNIa- hoiiloun, (Piitlani?) liamri, Telmadi, (Tafmanaar?) Lendouma, Sedi, Iles- li; Beresli and Medouna {Matura f). "Aghna" or "Ana/' as Edrisi makes it the residence of the king, must be Auara,japoora. 3 Edkisi, Geogr. Transl. de Jau- bert, 4to. Paris, 1836, t. i. p. 71, &c. Edrisi, in his " Notice of Ceylon," quotes largely and verbatim from the work of Abou-zeyd, CiiAP. II.] INDIAN, ARABIAN, PERSIAN AUTHORITIES. 599 tlie Malabar Maglia, who invaded tlic island from Ca- limia 1219 a.d., overthrew the Buddhist rehgion. de- secrated its monuments and temples, and destroyed the edifices and literaiy records of the capital.^ Kazwini, as usual, dwells on the productions of the island, its spices, and its odours, its precious woods and medical drugs, its profusion of gems, its gold and silver work, and its pearls^ : but one circumstance will not fail to strike the reader as a strange omission in these frequent enumerations of the exports of Ceylon. I have traced them from their earhest notices by the Greeks and Eomans to the period when the commerce of the East had reached its climax in the hands of the Persians and Arabians ; the survey extends over fifteen centuries, during which Ceylon and its productions were familiarly known to the traders of all countries, and yet in the pages of no author, European or Asiatic, fi^om the earliest ages to the close of the thirteenth century, is there the remotest allusion to Cinnamon as an indigenous produc- tion, or even as an article of commerce in Ceylon. I may add, that I have been equally unsuccessful in finding any allusion to it in any Chinese work of ancient date.^ This unexpected result has served to cast a suspicion on the title of Ceylon to be designated par excellence the " Cinnamon Isle," and even with the knowledge that the cinnamon laurel is indigenous there, it admits of but little doubt that the spice which in the earher ages w^as imported into Europe through Arabia, was obtained, first from Africa, and afterwards from India ; and that it w^as not till after the twelfth or thirteenth century that its ^ 3Iahawanso, ch. Ixxx. Hajarcdna- cari, p. 98 ; Rajdvuli, p. 250. Ttjk- kour's Epitome, i^-c, p. 44. ^ Kazwini, inCJildemeister, *S'«v};^. Arah. p. 198. ^ lu tlie Cliinese Materia Medicii, " Pun-tsao-kanfi-nuih,''^ cinuanion or cassia is described under the name of " kwei/' but always as a production of Southern China and of Cochin China. In the ]\Iing History, a pro- duction of Ceylon is mentioned under ilie name of " Shoo-heenu/," or "tree- perfume ; " but my Informant, Mr. \V}Iie, of Shanghae, is unable to identify it with cinnamon oil. 60& MEDIEVAL HISTORY. [Part V. existence in Ceylon became known to the merchants re- sorting to the island. So httle was its real history known in Enroj^e, even at the latter period, that Phile, who composed his metrical treatise, Tlsp) Zwwv 'Vnorriros, for the information of the Emperor Michael XI. (Palgeologus), about the year 1310, repeats the ancient fable of Hero- dotus, that cinnamon grew in an unknown Indian country, whence it was carried by birds, from whose nests it was abstracted by the natives of Arabia.^ ' "Opi'ig o Kivva}ib)f.iOQ uivofiaafiivoQ To Kii'vafn>)p.ov iv^iiv dyvooiifiivov, "V*' 01' fcaXidi' opyavoi toIq 0tXroroif MoXXov ci roi£ /xiXatJiv 'li^colg, av- 'ApwfiariKrjV t)^ovi]v fiaTrXsicfi. Phile, xx^•iii. Vincent, in scrutinising- the wiit- ings of the classical authors, anterior to Cosuias, who treated of Tapro- bane, was surprised to discover that no mention of cinnamon as a produc- tion of Ceylon was to be met with in Pliny, Dioscorides, or Ptolemy, and that even the author of the mercan- tile Periplus was silent regarding it. (Vol. ii. p. 512.) D'Herbelot has likewise called attention to the same fact. {Bihl. Orient, vol. iii. p. 308.) This omission is not to be ex- plained by ascribing it to mere in- advertence. The interest of the Greeks and Romans was naturally excited to discover the coimtry which produced a luxury so rare as to be a suitable gift for a king ; and so costly, that a crown of cinnamon tipped with gold was a becoming offering to the gods. But the Arabs succeeded in preserving the secret of its origin, and the curiosity of Europe was baffled by tales of cin- namon being found in the nest of the Phoenix, or gathered in marshes guarded by monsters and winged serpents. Pliny appears to have been the first to suspect that the most precious of spices came not from Arabia, but froin ^Ethiopia (lib. xii. c. xlii.) ; and Cooley, in an argument equally remarkable for ingenuity and research, has succeeded in demon- strating the soundness of this con- jectm-e, and establishing the fact that the cinnamon brought to Europe by the Ai-abs, and aftei-wards by the Greeks, came chiefly from the east- ern angle of Africa, the tract around Cape Gardafui, which is marked on the ancient maps as the Regio Cin- namomifera. (Journ. Eov. Georg. Society, 1849, vol. xix. " p. 1060 CooLEY has suggested in his learned work on *' Ptolemy and the Nile" thfit the name Gardafui is a compoimd of the Somali word c/ard, " a port," and the Arabic afliaoni, a generic tenn for aromata and spices. It admits of no doubt that the cinna- mon of Ceylon was unknown to com- merce in the sixth century of our era ; although there is evidence of a supply which, if not from China, was probably carried in Chinese vessels at a much earlier period, in the Persian name dar chini, which means " Chinese wood," and in the ordinary word cmn-amon, Chinese amo- mum," a generic name for aromatic spices generally. (Nees Von Esek- BACH, de Cinnamono Dispi/fafio, p. 12.) Ptolemy, equally with Pliny, placed the " Cinnamon Region " at the north-eastern extremity of Africa, now the coimtry of the Somaulees ; and the author of the Periplus, mind- ful of his object, in wi'iting a guide- book for merchant-seamen, particu- larises cassia amongst the exports of the same coast ; but although he enumerates the productions of Cey- lon, gems, pearls, ivory, and tortoise- shell, he is silent as to cinnamon. Dioscorides and Galen, in common Chap. II.] INDIAN, ARABIAN, PERSIAN AUTHORITIES. 601 The first authentic notice wliieh we liave of Singhalese cinnamon occurs in the voyages of Ibn Batuta the Moor, with tlie ti-avellers and geogTaphers of the aucieuts, iguore its Singhalese origin, and unite with them in trac- ing it to the country of the Trog- lodytae. I attach no importance to those passages in Wagenfeld's ver- sion of ScmchoniatJum, in whicli, amongst other particuhirs, obviously describing Ceylon imder the name of" the island of llachius/' which he states to have been visited by the Phoiuicians ; he says, that the western province produced the finest cinna- mon (^KlVVafiif) TToWtjj Tt Kal ClCUt'lpOl/Tl), that the mountains aboimded in cassia {Kimia upu>n((TiKWTur7i), and that the minor kings paid their tribute in both, to the paramoimt sovereig-n. (Sanchoniathox, ed. Wagenfeld, Bremen, 18.37, lib. vii. ch. xii.). The MS. from which Wagenfeld prmted, is evidently a mediasval forgery (see note (A) to vol. i. ch. v. p. 547). Again, it is equally strange that the waiters of Ai-abia and Persia preseiwe a si- milar silence as to the cinnamon of the ishuid, although they dwell with due admiration on its other pro- ductions, in all of which they carried on a lucrative trade. Sir \\'illiak OusELEY, after a fruitless search through the writings of theu- geo- graphers and travellers, records his surprise at this result, and men- tions especially his disappointment, that Ferdousi, who enriches his great poem with glowing descriptions of all the objects presented by sm-- roimding nations to the sovereigns of Persia, — ivory, ambergTis, and aloes, vases, bracelets, and jewels, — neA'er once adverts to the exquisite cinnamon of Ceylon. — Travels, vol. i. p. 41. The conclusion deducible from fifteen centmies of historic testi- mony is, that the earliest knowledge of cinnamon possessed by the western nations was derived from China, and that it first reached Judea and PhcB- nicia overland by way of Persia (Song of Solomon, iv. 14 : Revela- tion xviii. 13). At a later period when the Ai'abs, '' the merchants of Sheba," competed for the trade of Tp-e, and carried to her " the chief of all spices" (Ezekiel xvii. 22), their supplies were drawn from their African possessions, and the cassia of the Trog-lod^^-tic coast supplanted the cinnamon of the tar East, and to a great extent excluded it from the market. The Greeks having at length discovered the secret of the Arabs, resorted to the same coim- tries as their rivals in commerce, and surpassing them in practical naviga- tion and the construction of ships, the Sabaeans were for some centuries reduced to a state of mercantile dependence and inferiority. In the meantime the Roman Empire de- clined ; the Persians under the Sassa- nides engrossed the intercom-se with the East, the trade of India now flowed through the Persian Gulf, and the ports of the Red Sea were de- serted. " Thus the downfall, and it may be the extinction, of the African spice trade probably dates from the close of the sixth centmy, and Malabar succeeded at once to this branch of commerce." — CooLEY, Eeyio Cin~ namomifera, p. 14. Cooley sup- poses that the Malabars may have obtained from Ceylon the cinnamon with which they supplied the Per- sians ; as Ibn Batuta, in the fourteenth centmy, saw cinnamon trees drifted upon the shores of the island, whither they had been carried by torrents from the forests of the interior {Ihn JBatida, ch. xx. p. 182). The fact of theii" being found so is in itself sutR- cient evidence, that dowai to that time no active trade had been carried on in the article ; and the earliest travellers in the thirteenth and four- teenth centuries, Maeco Polo, John OF Hesse, Fea Jordaxtts and others, whilst they allude to cinnamon as one of tlie chief productions of Mahi- bar, speak of Ceylon, notwithstand- ing her wealth in jewels and pearls, as if she were utterly destitute of any spice of this kind. Nicola de Conti, VOL. I. R R 602 MEDIAEVAL HISTORY. [Part V. wlio, impelled by religious enthusiasm, set out from liis native city Tangiers, in the year 1324, and devoted A.D. 1444, is the first European win- ter, in whose pages I have found Ceylon described as yielding cinna- mon, and he is followed by Varthema, A.D. 1506, and Corsali, a.d. 1515. Long after the arrival of Europeans in Ceylon, cinnamon was only found in the forests of the interior, where it was cut and brought away by the Chalias, the caste who, from having been originally weavers, devoted themselves to this new employment. The Chalias are themselves an im- migi-ant tribe, and, according to their own tradition, they came to the island only a veiy short time before the appearance of the Portuguese. (See a Ifistori/ of the Chalias, by Adkian Rajapakse, a Chief of the Caste, Asiat. JReser. vol. iii. p. 440.) So difficult of access were the forests, that the Portuguese coidd only obtain a full supply from them once in three years ; and the Dutch, to remedy this uncertainty, made regular jilautations in the vicinity of their forts about the year 1770 a.d., " so tJuit the cultivation of cinnamon in Ceylon is not yet a cen- tury oW — CooLEY, p. 15. It is a question for scientific research rather than for historical scrutiny, whether the cinnamon laurel of Ceylon, as it exists at the present day, is indigenous to the island, or whether it is identical with the cinnamon of Abyssinia, and may have been carried thence by the Arabs ; or whether it was brought to the island from the adjacent conti- nent of India ; or impoi-ted by the Chinese from islands still further to the east. One fact is notorious at the present day, that nearly the whole of the cinnamon grown in Ceylon is produced in a small and well-detined area occupying the S.W. quarter of the island, which has been at all times the resort of foreign shipping. The natives, from observing its appearance for the first time in other and imexpected places, believe it to be sown by the birds who carry thither the undigested seeds j and the Dutch^ for this reason, prohibited the shooting of crows, — a precaution that would scarcely be necessary for the protection of the plant, had they believed it to be not only indigenous, but peculiar to the island. We ourselves were led, till very recently, to imagine that Ceylon enjoyed a " natm'al monopoly" of cinnamon. Mr. Th:vvaites, of the Royal Botanic Gardens at Kandy, is of opinion from his own observation, that cinnamon is indigenous to Ceylon, as it is foimd, but of inferior quality, in the centi-al moimtaiu range, as high as 3000 feet above the level of the sea — and again in the sandy soil near Batti- caloa on the east coast, he saw it in svich quantity as to suggest the idea that it must be the remains of for- mer cultivation. This statement of Mr. Thwaites is quite in consistency with the narrative of Valentyn (ch. vii.), that the Dutch, on their first arrival in Ceylon, a.d. 1601-2, took on board cinnamon at Batticaloa, — and that the surrounding district continued to produce it in great abun- dance in A.D. 1 726. {Ih. ch. xv. p. 223, 224.) Still it must be observed that its appearance in these situations is not altogether inconsistent wdth the popular belief that the seeds may haA'e been carried there by birds. Finding that the Singhalese works accessible to me, the 3Iahaivanso, the Rajavali, the Rajaratnacari, 8fc., al- though frequently particularising the aromatic shrubs and flowers planted by the pious care of the native sovereigns, made no mention of cinnamon, I am indebted to the good offices of the Maha-Moodliar de Sarem, of Mr. De Alwis, the trans- lator of the Sidath-Sanyara, and of Mr. Spence Hardy, the learned his- torian of Buddhism, for a thorough examination of such native books as were likely to throw light on the question. Mr. Hardy writes to me that he has not met with the woi-d cinnamon (kurunchi) in any early Singlialese books ; but there is men- CuAr. IT.] IXDIAX, ARABIAN, PERSIAN AUTHORITIES. G03 twenty-eiglit years to a pilgrimage, tlie record of wliicli lias entitled liim to rank amongst the most remarkable travellers of any age or country. On his way to Intha, he visited, in Shu\az, the tomb of the Lnamii Abu Abd Allah, " who made known the way from India to the mountain of Serendib." As this saint died in the year of the liejira 331, his story serves to fix the origin of the Mahometan pilgrimages to Adam's Peak, in the early part of the tenth century. When steering for the coast of India, from the Maldives, Ibn Batuta was carried by the south-west monsoon towards the northern portion of Ceylon, which was then (a.d. 1347) in the hands of the Malabars, the Singhalese sovereign having removed his capital southward to Gam- pola. The Hindu chief of Jaffna was at this time in possession of a fleet in " which he occasionally transported tion of a substance called " paspala- wata^ of which cinnamon forms one of the ingredients. Mr. de Alwis has been equally unsuccessful, al- though in the Sarastoccfe Niyardu, an ancient Sanskrit Catalogue of Plants, the true cinnamon is spoken of as Sinhalam, a word which signifies *' belonging to Ceylon" to distinguish it from cassia, which is found in Hindustan. The Maha-Mootlliar, as the result of an investigation made by him in communication with some of the most erudite of the Buddhist priesthood familiar with Pali and Singhalese literatm-e, informs me that whilst cinnamon is aUuded to in several Sanskrit works on Medicine, such aa that of Susruta, and thence copied into Pali translations, its name has been found only in Singhalese works of comparatively modern date, although it occiu-s in the ti-eatise on Medicine and Sm'gery popularly attributed to King IJujas llaja, a.d. 339. Lankagodde, a learned priest of Galle, says that the word laicanga in an ancient Pali vocabidary means cinnamon, but I rather think this is a mistake, for lawam/a or lavanga is the Pali name for ** cloves," that for ciimamon being lamayo. The question therefore remains in considerable obscurity. It is diffi- cidt to imderstand how an article so precious coidd exist in the highest perfection in Ceylon, at the period when the island was the very focus and centi'e of Eastern commerce, and yet not become an object of interest and an item of export. And although it is spaiingly used in the Singhalese cuisine, stiU looking at its many religious uses for decoration and incense, the silence of the ecclesias- tical writers as to its existence is not easily accounted for. The explanation may possibly be, that cinnamon, like coft'ee, was origi- nally a native of the east angle of Africa ; and that the same Arabian adventm-ers who carried coftee to Ye- men, where it floiu'ishes to the present day, may have been equally instru- mental in introducing cinnamon into India and Ceylon. In India its cultivation, probably from natm-al causes, proved unsuccessfid ; but in Ceylon the plant enjoyed that rare combination of soil, temperatm-e, and climate, which idtimately gave to its qualities the highest possible develop- ment. 604 MEDIEVAL HISTORY. [Part V. his troops against the Mahometans on other parts of the coast ; " where the Singhalese chroniclers relate that the Tamils at this time had erected forts at Colombo, Ne- gombo, and Chilaw. Ibn Batuta was permitted to land at Battala (Put- lam) and found the shore covered with " cinnamon wood," which " the merchants of Malabar transport without any other price than a few articles of clothing which are given as presents to the king. This may be attributed to the circumstance that it is brought down by the mountain torrents, and left in great heaps upon the shore." This passage is interesting, though not devoid of ob- scurity, for cinnamon is not known to grow further north than Chilaw, nor is there any river in the district of Putlam which could bear the designation of a " mountain torrent." Along the coast further south the cinnamon district commences, and the current of the sea may have possibly carried with it the uprooted laurels described in the narrative. The whole passage, however, demonstrates that at that time, at least, Ceylon had no organised trade in the spice. The Tamil chieftain exhibited to Ibn Batuta his wealth in "pearls," and under his protection he made the pilgrimage to the summit of Adam's Peak accom- panied by four jyogees who visited the foot-mark every year, " four Brahmans, and ten of the king's companions, with fifteen attendants carrying provisions." The first day he crossed a river, (the estuary of Calpentyn?) on a boat made of reeds, and entered the city of Manar Mandali ; probably the site of the present Minneri MundaL This was the " extremity of the territory of the infidel king," whence B3n Batuta proceeded to the port of Salawat (Chilaw), and thence (turning inland) he reached the city of the Singhalese sovereign at Gam- pola, then called Ganga-sri-pura, which he contracts into Kankar or Ganera.^ ' As he afterwards writeS; Galle " Kale." CuAP. IL] IXDLiN, AEABL^JN", PERSL^ AUTHORITIES. G05 He describes accurately the situation of the ancient capital, in a valley between two hills, upon a bend of the river called, " the estuary of rubies." The emperor he names "Kina," a term I am unable to explain, as the prince who then reigned was probably Bhuwaneka- bahu IV., the first Singhalese monarch wdio held his coiut at Gampola. The king on feast days rode on a white elephant, his head adorned with very large rubies, which are found in his country, imbedded in "a white stone abounding in fissures, from which they cut it out and give it to the polishers." Ibn Batuta enumerates three varieties, " the red, the yellow, and the cornehan ; " but the last must mean the sapphu^e, the second the topaz ; and the first refers, I apprehend, to the amethyst ; for in the foUomng passage, in describing the decorations of the head of the white elephant, he speaks of " seven rubies, each of which was larger than a hen's egg," and a saucer made of a ruby as broad as the palm of the hand. In the ascent from Gampola to Adam's Peak, he speaks of the monkeys Avith beards hke a man (Pres- hytes ursinus, or P. cejyhalopterus), and of the "fierce leech," which liu'ks in the trees and damp grass, and springs on the passers by. He describes the trees with leaves that never fall, and the " red roses " of the rhodo- dendrons which still characterise that lofty region. At the foot of the last pinnacle which crowns the summit of the peak, he found a minaret named after Alexander the Great ^ ; steps hewn out of the rock, and " k'on pins to which chains are appended" to assist the pilgrims in theu" ascent ; a w^ell filled with fish, and last of all, on ^ In oriental tradition, Alexander is believed to have visited Ceylon in company with the "philosopher Bo- linus," by whom De Sacy believes that the ^Vi-abs meant Apollonius of Tyana. There is a Persian poem by A'shref, the Zaffer Xamah Skendari, which describes the conqueror's voy- age to Serendib, and his devotions at the foot-mark of Adam, for reaching which, he and Bolinus caused steps to be he-wTi in the rock, and the ascent secured by rivets and cliains. — See Ouselet's Travels, vol. i. p. 58. B B 3 606 MEDIAEVAL HISTORY. [Part V. the loftiest point of the mountain, the sacred foot-print of the First Man, into the hollow of which the pilgrims drop their offerings of gems and gold. In descending the mountain, Ibn Batuta passed through the village of Kalanga, near which was a tomb, said to be that of Abu Abd Allah Ibn Khahf ^ ; he visited the temple of Dinaur (Devi-Neuera, or Dondera Head), and returned to Putlam by way of Kale (GaUe), and Kolambu (Colombo), " the finest and largest city in Serendib." ' Abu Abd Allali was the first wlao 1 cenotaph in bis bonoiir; as Ibn Batuta ledtbe Mahometan pilgrims to Ceylon, bad previously visited his tomb at The tomb alluded to was probably a | Shiraz. G07 CHAP. III. CEYLON AS liNOWN TO THE CHINESE. Although the intimate knowledge of Ceylon acquired by the Chinese at an early period, is distinctly ascrib- able to the sympathy and intercourse promoted by com- munity of religion, there is traditional, if not historical evidence that its origin, in a remote age, may be traced to the love of gain and their eagerness for the extension of commerce. The Singhalese ambassadors who arrived at Rome in the reign of the Emperor Claudius, stated that their ancestors had reached China by traversing India and the Himalayan mountains long before ships had attempted the voyage by sea ^ , and as late as the fifth century of the Christian era, the King of Ceylon ^, in an address delivered by his envoy to the Emperor of China, shows that both routes were then in use.^ It is not, however, till after the third century of the Christian era that we find authentic records of such journeys in the hterature of China. The Buddhist pilgrims, who at that time resorted to India, pubhshed on their retm^n itineraries and descri])tions of the distant countries they had visited, and officers, both mihtary and civil, brought back memoirs and statistical state- ments for the information of the government and the guidance of commerce.^ ^ Pliny, h. vi. cla. xxiv. '^ Maha Naama, a.d. 428 ; Sunfj- shoo, a " History of the Northern Simo- DjTiasty," b. xcvii. p. 5. 2 It was probably the knowled;^e of the overland route that led the Chinese to establish their military colonies in Kashgar, Yarkhaud and the coimtries lying between their own frontier and the north-east boundaiy of India. — Journ. Asiat. 1. vi. p. 343. An embassy from China to Ceylon, A.D. G07, was entrusted to Chang- Tsnen, " Director of the _ Military Lands." — Suy-shoo, b. Ixxxi. p. 3. ^ Reinaud, 3Ic moire sur VInde, R R 4 608 MEDIEVAL HISTORY. [Part V. It was reasonable to anticipate that in such records information would be found regarding the condition of Ceylon as it presented itself from time to tune to the eyes of the Chinese ; but unfortunately numbers of the original works have long since perished, or exist only in extracts preserved in dynastic histories and encyclopaedias, or in a class of books almost peculiar to China, called " tsung-shoo," consisting of excerpts re- produced from the most ancient writers. M, Stanislas Juhen discovered in the Pien-i-tien, (" a History of Eoreign Nations," of which there is a copy in the Im- perial Library of Paris,) a collection of fragments from Chinese authors who had treated of Ceylon ; but as the intention of that eminent Sinologue to translate them^ has not yet been carried into effect, they are not avail- able to me for consultation. In this difficulty I turned for assistance to China; and through the assiduous kindness of IMr. Wyhe, of the London Mission at Shanghai, I have received extracts from twenty-foiu^ Chinese writers between the fifth and eighteenth cen- turies, from which and from translations of Chinese travels and topographies made by Eemusat, Klaproth, Landresse, Pauthier, Stanislas Julien, and others, I have been enabled to collect the following facts relative to the knowledge of Ceylon possessed by the Chinese in the middle ages.^ p. 9. Stanislas JuLiEisr, preface to liis translation of JImten-Thsanff, Paris, 1853, p. 1. A bibliogi-apliical notice of the most important Chinese works which contain descriptions of India, by M. S. Julien, will be found in the Journ. Asiat. for October, 1832, p. 264. ^ Journ. Asiat. t. xxix. p. 89. M. Stanislas Julien is at present en- gaged in the translation of the ^SV- yu-ki, or " Memoires des Contrees Occidentales," the eleventh chapter of which contains an account of Cey- lon in the eighth century. ^ The Chinese works referred to in the foUoAving pages are. — Simg- shoo, the "History of the Northern Suug Dynasty," a.d. 417—473, by CniN-Y6, wi-itten about a.d. 487. — Wei-slioo, " a History of the Wei Tartar Dynasty," a.d. 386—556, by Wei-show, a.d. 590. — Foe-Koue Ki, an " Account of the Buddhist King- doms," by Chy-Fa-Hian, a.d. 399— 414, French transl., by Remusat, Klaproth, and Landresse. Paris, 1836. — Leanf/shoo, " History of the Leang Dynasty," A.D. 502 — 557, by Yaotj- SzE-LEEN, A.D. 6-30. — Suy-slioo," His- tory of the Suy D-sTiasty,'" a.d. 581 —617, by Wei-Ching, a.d. 633. Chap. III.] CEYLON AS KNOWN TO THE CHINESE. 609 Like the Greek geographers, the earhest Chinese autliorities grossly exaggerated the size of Ceylon : they represented it as Ipng " cross-wise in the Indian Ocean \ and extending in width from east to west one tliird more than in depth from north to south.^ They were strnck by the altitude of its hills, and, above all, by the lofty crest of Adam's Peak, which served as the land-mark for ships approaching the island. They speak reverentially of the sacred foot-mark^ impressed — IIiotjex-Thsan^g. His Life and Travels, a.d. 645, French transl., by Stanislas Julien. Paris, 1853. — Nan-sM, '' History of the Southern Empire," a.d. 317 — 589, by Le-tex- SHOW, A.D. 650. — Tumi-teen, "Cyc-lo- paedia of History," by Too- Yew, a.d. 740. — Ke-Ts^ee si-1/i.h hinfj-Chim/, *' Itineraiy of Ke-]s'e£'s Travels in the Western Regions," from a.d. 964 — 976. — Tae-phuj yu-lan, " The Tae- ping Digest of History," compiled by Imperial Command, a.d. 983. — Tslh-foo yttcn-Kwei, " Great De- pository of the National Archives," compiled by Imperial Command, a.d. 1012. — Sin- Tam/shoo, " A New His- tory of the Tang Dj-nasty," A.D. 618 — 906, by Gow-Yaxg-sew and Sing- KE, A.D. 1060. — Tung-che, "National Annals," by Chi^tg-Tseaof, a.d. 1150. — Wdn-heen tuny-kaou, "Anti- quarian Researches," by MA-TwAJf- LIN, A.D. 1319. Of this remarkable work there is an admirable analysis by Ivlaproth in the Asiatic Journal for 1832, vol. XXXV. p. 110, and one still more complete in the Journal Asia- tique, vol. xxi. p. 3. The portion relating to Ceylon has been trans- lated into French by M. Pauthier in the Journal Asiatique for April, 1836, and again by M. Stanislas Jidien in the same Journal for July, 1836, t. xxix. p. 36. — Yuh-hae, "The Ocean of Gems," by Wang- tan g-list, A.D. 1338. — Taou-e che- hto, " A General Accoimt of Island Foreigners," by Wang-Ta-youen, A.D. 1350. — Tsih-ke, "Miscellaneous Record ; " wi-itten at tlie end of the Yuen dynasty, about the close of the fourteenth century. — ro-wHh yaou- fort, " Philosophical Examiner ;" wi'it- ten dming the Ming djTiasty, about the beginning of the fifteenth centuiy. — Se-yih-ke foo-choo, " A Description of Western Countries," a.d. 1450. This is the important work of which M. Stanislas Julien has recently pub- lished the first volume of his French translation, 3Iemoires des Contrees Occidentales, Paris, 1857 ; and of which he has been so obliging as to send me those sheets of the second volume, now preparing for the press, which contain the notices of Ceylon by HiouEN-TnsANG. They, how- ever, add very little to the infor- mation already given in the Life and Travels of Iliouen-TIisany. — TFoo- hed-pi'en, " Records of the Ming Dy- nasty," hj CmNG-IlEAOTJ, A.D. 1522. — Suh-wan-heen tuny-kaou, " Supple- ment to the Antiquarian Reseai'ches," by Wang-Ke, A.D. 1003. — Suh-Hung keen-luh, " Supplement to the History of the Middle Ages," by Shaoij- Ytjex-ping, a.d. nOQ.—Miny-she, " Ilistorv of the Ming DjTiasty," a.d. 1638—1643, by Chang-Tixg-tuh, A.D. 1739. — Ta-tsiny ylh-tuny, " A Topographical Account of the Man- choo Dvnasty," of which there is a copy in the British Museum. ^ Taou-e che-leo, quoted in the Hae-kwo-too che, Foreig-n Geography, b. xviii. p. 15. ^ Leany-shoo, b. liv. p. 10 ; Xan- she, b. Ixxiii. p. 13 ; Tuny-teen, b. clxxxviii. p. 17. ^ The Chinese books repeat the popidar belief that the hollow of tlio sacred footstep contains water " which 610 MEDIAEVAL IIISTOSY. [Part V. by the first created man, who, in then* mythology, bears tlie name of Pawn-koo ; and the gems wliicli are fomid upon tlie mountain they beheve to be his " crystallised tears, wliicli accounts for their singular lustre and marvellous tints." ^ The country they admired for its fertihty and singular beauty ; the climate they compared to that of Siam^, with slight alterations of seasons ; refresh- ing showers in every period of the year, and the earth consequently teeming with fertility.^ The names by which Ceylon was known to them were either adapted from the Singhalese, as nearly as the Chinese characters would supply equivalents for the Sanskrit and Pali letters, or else they are translations of the sense imphed by each designation. Thus, Sinhala was either rendered " Seng-kia-lo,'" ^ or " Sze-tseu-kwo" the latter name as well as the original, meamng " the kingdom of hons." ^ The classical Lanka is preserved in the Chinese " Lang-kea" and " Lang-ya-seu." In the epithet " CMh-too,'" the Red Land ^, we have a simple rendering of the Pah Tambapanni, the " Copper-palmed," from the colour of the soil.'' Paou-choo ^ is a translation of the Sanskrit Eatna-dwipa, the " Island of Gems," and Tsih-e-lan, Seih-lan, and Se-hmg, are aU modern modifica- tions of the European " Ceylon." does not dry up all tlie year round ; " and that invalids recover by drinking from tlie well at the foot of the mountain, into which " the sea-water enters free from salt." Taou-e che- leo, quoted in the Hae-kwo-too-che, or J'oreign Geogi'aphy, b. xxviii. p. 15. ^ Po-2vuh Yaou-Ian, b. xxxiii. p. 1. Wang-Ke, Siih- Wan-Men tung-kaou, b. ccxxxvi. p. 19. 2 Tim(j-t'ecn, b. clxxxviii. p. 17. Tae-pimj, b. dcclxxxvii. p. 5. 2 Leo7iy-shoo, b. liv. p. 10. 4 Iliouen-Tlisang, b. iv. p. 194. Transl. M. S. Julien. ^ This, M. Stanislas Julien says, should be '' the kingdom of the lion^'' in allusion to the mythical ancestiy of Wijayo. — Jonrn. Asiat., torn, xxix. p. 37. And in a note to the tenth book of IIioxjen-Thsang's Voyages des Peleti'tis Bouddhistes, vol. ii. p. 124, he says one name for Ceylon in Chinese is" Tchi-sse-tseu" '^ (le royaume de celui qui) a pris un lion." ^ Svy-shoo, b. Ixxx. p. 3. In the Se-ylh-ke foo-choo, or " Descriptions of Western Countries/' Ceylon is called Woo-yeiv-kioo, " the sorrowless kingdom." ■^ Mahmvanso, ch. vii. p. 50. ^ Se-ylh-ke foo-choo, quoted in the Ilae-kwo-too che, or " Foreign Geo- gTaphy," 1. xviii. p. 15 ; IIiotjen- Thsang, Voyages des Peler. Boudd. lib. xi. vol. ii. p. 125 ; 130 n. Chap. III.] CEYLOX AS KNOWN TO THE CHINESE. 611 The ideas of tlie Chinese regarding the mythical period of Singhalese history, and the first peopling of the island, are embodied in a very few sentences which are repeated throughout the series of authors, and with wliich we are made familiar in the folloA\ang passage from Fa Hl\n : — " Sze-tseu-kwo, the kingdom of hons ^, was inhabited originaUy not by men but by de- mons and dragons.^ Merchants were attracted to the island, by the prospect of trade ; but tlie demons re- mamed unseen, merely exposing the precious articles wliich they wished to barter : Avitli a price marked for each, at Avhich the foreign traders were at hberty to take tliem, depositing the equivalents indicated in ex- change. From the resort of these dealers, the inhabi- tants of other countries, hearing of the attractions of the island, resorted to it in large nmnbers, and thus eventually a great kingdom was formed." ^ The Chinese were aware of two separate races, one occupying the northern and the other the southern ex- tremity of the island, and were struck with the resem- blance of the Tamils to the Hoo, a people of Central Asia, and of the Singhalese to the Leaou, a mountain tribe of Western China.* The latter they describe as ha\dng "large ears, long eyes, purple faces, black bodies, moist and strong hands and feet, and living to one hundiTd years and upwards.^ Theu* hau' was worn long and flowing, not only by the women but by the men." In these details there are particulars that ^ Wan-li£eniung-kaou,h, cccxxxviii. p. 24. 2 The Yakkhos and Nagas (" devils" and " serpents ") of the 3Iahawanso. ^ Foe-Kone Ki, ch. xxxviii. p. 333. Transl. Eejiusat. This ac- count of Ceylon is repeated almost verbatim in the Tung-teen, and in nu- merous other Chinese works, with the addition that the newly-fomied king- dom of Sinhala, " Sze-tseu-kw5," took its name fi-om the " skill of the natives in trainins; li«.ins." — B. cxciii. pp. 8, 9 ; Tae-imif/, b. dccxciii. p. 9 ; Sin-Tanff-shoo, h. cxlvi. part ii. p. 10. A veiy accurate translation of the passage as it is given by Ma- TorAif-LiiV is published by M. Stanislas Julien in the Jouni. Asiat. for July, 18.36, tom. xxix. p. 36. * Too-Hiouoi, quoted in the Tuwj- teen, b. cxciii. p. 8. ^ Taou-e che-leo, quoted in the Hae-kwo-too che, or " Foreign Geo- graphy," b. xviii. p. 15. 612 MEDIEVAL HISTORY. [Part V. closely resemble the description of the natives of the island visited by Jambulus, as related in the story told by Diodorus.^ The Chinese in the seventh century found the Singha- lese dressed in a costume w^hicli appears to be nearly identical with that of the present day.^ Both males and females had then' hair long and flowing, but the heads of children were closely shaven, a practice which still partially prevails. The jackets of the girls were occasionaUy ornamented with gems.^ " The men," says the Tung-teen, " have the upper part of the body naked, but cover their hmbs with a cloth, called Kan-man, made of Koo-pei, ' Cotton,' a word in which we may recognise the term ' Comboy,' used to designate the cotton cloth universally worn at the present day by the Singhalese of both sexes in the maritime pro^ances.* For their vests, the kings and nobles made use of a sub- ^ DioDontrs SiCTJLtTS, lib. ii. cli. liii. See ante, Vol. I. P. v. eh. 1. p. 153. ^ Leang-shoo, b. liv. p. 10 ; Xan- slie, b. Ixxviii. pp. 13; 14. 3 Nan-sM, a.d. 650, b. Ixxviii. p. 13 ; Leang-shoo, a.d. 070, b. liv. p. 11. Such is still the dress of the Siu^halese females. A MOODLTAR ANB HIS •WIEE, '' Timg-tecn, b. clxxxviii. p. 17 ; I slioo, b. cxcviii. p. 25. See p. iv. ch. Nau-sM, b. Ixxviii. p. 13 ; Sin-tang- \ iv. vol. i. p. 450. Chap. III.] CEYLOX AS KN^OWN TO THE CHINESE. 6ia stance which is described as ' cloud cloth, ' ^ probably from its being very transparent, and gathered (as is still the costume of the chiefs of Kandy) into very large folds. It was fastened with golden cord. Men of rank were decorated with earrings. The dead were burned, not buried." And the following passage from the /SwA-i^aTZ- heen timg-kaoii, or the " Supplement to Antiquarian Eesearches," is strikingly descriptive of what may be con- stantly witnessed in Ceylon ; — " the females who live near the family of the dead assemble in the house, beat their breasts with both hands, howl and weep, which constitutes thek appropriate rite." ^ The natural riches of Ceylon, and its productive capa- bihties, speedily impressed the Chinese, who were bent upon the discovery of outlets for then' commerce, with the conviction of its importance as an emporium of trade. So remote was the age at wliich strangers fre- quented it, that in the " Account of Island Foreigners, " written by Waxg-ta-itex ^ in the fourteenth century, it is stated that the origin of trade in the island was coeval with the visit of Buddlia, who, " taldng compas- sion on the aborigines, who were poor and addicted to robbery, tm^ned then' disposition to wtue, by sprinl^ling the land with sweet dew, which caused it to produce red gems, and thus gave them wherewith to trade," and hence it became the resort of traders from every country.^ Though aware of the unsuitabihty of the chmate to ripen wheat, the Chinese were struck with admu'ation at the wonderful apphances of the Singhalese for migation, and the cultivation of rice.^ According to the Tung-teen, the intercourse between ^ The Chinese term is " yim-liae- poo." — Leang-shoo, b. liv. p. 10. * B. ccxxxA-i. p. 19. ^ Taoii-e che-leo, quoted in the Foreign Geography, h. xviii. p. 15. * The rapid peopling of Ceylon at a veiy remote age is accoimted for in the following terms in a passage of Ma-twan-lin, as translated by M. Stanislas Jiilien ; — " Les habitants des autres royamnes entendirent par- ler de ce pays fortune ; c'est poiu'- quoi ils y accourm-ent a Fenvi," — Journ. Asiat. t. xxix. p. 42. ^ Records of the Ming Di/nasti/, by Ching-KeaoU; b. Ixviii. p. 5. 614 MEDIEVAL HISTORY. [Part V. them and the Singhalese, began during the Eastern Tsin dynasty, a.d. 317 — -419^; and one remarkable island still retains a name which is commemorative of their presence. Salang, to the north of Penang, lay in the direct course of the Chinese junks on their way to and from Ceylon, through the Straits of Malacca, and, in addition to its harbour, was attractive from its valuable mines of tin. Here the Chinese fleets called on both voyages ; and the fact of their resort is indicated by the popular name " Ajung-Selan," or " Junk-Ceylon ; " by which tlie place is still known, Ajung^ in the language of the Malays, being the term for " large shipping," and Selan^ their name for Ceylon.'^ The port in Ceylon which the Chinese vessels made their rendezvous, was Lo-le (Galle), " where, " it is said, " ships anchor, and people land." ^ Besides rice, the vegetable productions of the island enumerated by the various Chinese authorities were aloes-wood, sandal-wood *, and ebony ; camphor ^, areca- nuts, beans, sesamum, coco-nuts (and arrack distilled from the coco-nut palm) pepper, sugar-cane, myrrh, franldncense, oil and drugs.*" An odoriferous extract, called by the Chinese Slioo-heang, is hkewise particular- ised, but it is not possible now to identify it. Elephants and ivory were in request ; and the only manufactures alluded to for export were woven cotton^, gold ornaments, and jewelry ; including models of the slirines in which were deposited the sacred relics of ^ Tung-teen, a.d. 740. b. clxxxviii. p. 17. "^ Sincapore Chronicle, 1836. 2 Wang-ke, Siih-ioan-heen tung- Jcaou, b. ccxxxvi. p. 19. 4 The mention of sandal-wood is suggestive. It does not, so far as I could ever learn, exist in Ceylon ; yet it is mentioned with particular care amongst its exports in the Chinese books. Can it be that, like the cala- mander, or Coromaudel-wood, which is rapidly approaching extinction, sandal- wood was extirpated from the island by injudicious cutting, unac- companied by any precautions for the reproduction of the tree ? ^ Nan-she, b. Ixxviii. p. 13. ^ Suh-Hung keen-luh, b. xlii. p. 52. ■^ Tsih-foo yuen-hwei, A.D. 1012, b. dcccclxxi. p. 15. At a later period "Western cloth" is mention- ed among the exports of Ceylon, CUAP. III.] CEYLON AS KNOWN TO THE CHINESE. 615 Buddha.' Statues of Buddha were frequently sent as royal presents, and so great was the fame of Cey- lon for their production in the fourth and fifth cen- turies, that according to the historian of the Wei Tartar dynasty, a.d. 386 — 556, people " from the countries of Central Asia, and the kings of those nations, emulated each other in sending artisans to procure copies, but none could rival the productions of Nan-te.^ On standing about ten paces distant they appeared truly brilliant, but the lineaments gradually disappeared on a nearer approach." ^ Pearls, corals, and crystals were eagerly sought after ; but of all articles the gems of Ceylon were in the greatest request. The business of collecting and selhng them seems from the earhest time to have fallen into the hands of the Arabs, and hence they bore in China the desig- nation of " Mahometan stones." ^ They consisted of rubies, sapphires, amethysts, carbuncles (the " red precious stone, the lustre of which serves instead of a lamp at night ")'^; and topazes of four distinct tints, " those the colour of wine ; the dehcate tint of young goslings, the deep amber, hke bees'-wax, and the pale tinge resembling the opening bud of the pine." ^ It will not fail to be observed that throughout all these historical and topographical works of the Chinese, extending over a period of twelve centuries, from the year a.d. 487, there is no mention but tlie reference must be to cloth previously imported either from In- dia or Persia. — Ming-she History of the Ming Dynasty, A.D. 1368 — 1643, b. cccxxvi. p. 7. ^ A model of the shrine contain- ing the sacred tooth was sent to the Emperor of China in the fifth cen- tuiy by the King of Ceylon ; " Chacha 3Io-ha-tmn,^' a name which appears to coincide with Raja Maha Nama, who reigned A.D. 410 — 433. — Shun- shoo, A.D. 487, b. xlvii. p. 6. ^ Nan-t^ was a Buddhist priest, who in the year a.d. 456 was sent on an embassy to the Emperor of China, and was made the bearer of three statues of his own making. — Tsih-foo yuen-kicei, b. li. p. 7. * Wei-shoo, A. D. 590, b. cxiv. p. 9. ■* Tsih-ke, quoted in the Cliinese Mirror of Sciences, b. xxxiii. p. 1. ^ Po-iviih yaon-lan, b. xxxiii. p. 2. e Ibid. 616 MEDIEVAL HISTORY. [Part V. wjiatever of cinnamon as a production of Ceylon ; although cassia, described under the name of kwei, is mentioned as indigenous in China and Cochin-China. Li exchange for these commodities the Chinese traders brought with them silk, variegated lute strings, blue porcelain, enamelled dishes and cups, and quantities of copper cash wanted for adjusting the balances of trade. ^ Of the rehgion of the people, the earhest account recorded by the Chinese is that of Fa Hian^, in the fourth century^, when Buddliism was signally in the ascen- dant. But in the century which foUowed, travellers returning from Ceylon brought back accounts of the growing power of the Tamils, and of the consequent echpse of the national worship. The Yung-teen and tlie Tae-jnng describe at that early period the prevalence of Brahmanical customs, but coupled with "greater rever- ence for the Buddhistical faith." ^ In process of time, however, they are forced to admit the gradual dechne of the latter, and the attachment of the Singhalese kings to the Hmdu ritual, exhibiting an equal reverence to the ox and to tlie images of Buddha.* The Chinese trace to Ceylon the first foundation of monasteries, and of dwelling-houses for the priests, and in this they are corroborated by the Mahaicaiiso.^ From these pious communities, the Emperors of China were accustomed fi-om time to time to sohcit tran- scripts of theological works ^, and their envoys, return- ing fi^om such missions, appear to have brought glowing accounts of the Smghalese temples, the costly shrines for ^ Suy-shoo, '^History of the Suy Dynasty," a.d. 633, b. Ixxxi. p. 3. ^ Foe-Koue Ki, ch. xxxviii. ^ Tae-ping, b. dccxciii. p. 9. ■* Woo-heo-peen, " Records of tlie Ming DjTiasty," b. Ixriii. p. i; Tung- nee, b. cxcvi. pp. 79, 80. * Mahawanso, cb. xv. p. 99 ; cb. XX. p. 123. In tbe Itineraiy of Ke- nee's Travels in the Western King- doms in the tenth Centunj be mentions baving seen a monastery of Singba- lese on tbe continent of India. — Ive- NiiE, Se-yih hing-ching, a.d. 964 — • 976. ® Tae-ping, b. dcclxxxvii. p. 5. Chaf. II..] CEYLON AS KNOWN TO TUE CHINESE. G17 reKcs, and the fervid devotion of the people to the national worsliip."^ The cities of Ceylon in the sixth century are stated, in the " History of the Leang Dynasty" to have been encompassed by "vvalls built of brick, with double gates, and the houses within Avere constructed with upper stories.^ The palace of the king, at Anarajapoora, in the eleventh centuiy, was sufficiently splendid to excite the admiration of these visitants, " the precious articles with which it was decorated being; reflected in the thoroughfares." ^ The Chinese authors, like the Greeks and Arabians, are warm in their praises of the patriotism of the Sin- ghalese sovereigns, and then* active exertions for the improvement of the country, and the prosperity of the people^ On state occasions, the king, " carried on an elephant, and accompanied by banners, streamers, and tom-toms, rode under a canopy^, attended by a mihtary guard." "^ Tliroughout all the Chmese accounts, from the very earhest period, there are notices of the manners of the Singhalese, and even minute particulars of their domestic habits, which attest a continued intercom'se and an intimate familiarity beween the people of the two countries. ^ In this important featm-e the narratives of ^ Taoii-e che-Ieo. '^ Account of Island Foreigners," quoted in tlie " Foreif/n GecH/raphy,'' b. xviii. p. 15. Se-i/ih-ke foo-choo. lb. " At day- break eveiy morning the people are summoned, and exhorted to repeat the passages of Buddha, in order to remove ignorance and open the minds of the multitude. Discourses are de- livered upon the principles of vacancy (niiTvana?) and abstraction from all material objects, in order that truth maybe studied in solitude and silence, and the unfathomable point of prin- ciple attained free from the distract- ing influences of sound or smell." — Tsih-foo yaen-Jiivei, A. D. 1012, b, dcccclxi. p. 5, * Leang-shoo, a. d. 630, b. liv. p. 11. ^ Tsih-foo yaen-kwci, b. dcccclxi. p. 5. 4 Ibid. ^ The *' chatta," or umbrella, em- blematic of royalty. ^ Lrtuxj-shoo, b. liv. p. 10. ' This is apparent from the fact that their statements ai-e not confined to descriptions of the customs and character of the male Singhalese, but exhibit internal evidence that they had been introduced to their families, and had had opportmiities of noting peculiarities in the cus- toms of the females. They describe their dress, theii* mode of t}ing VOL. L s s 618 MEDIAEVAL HISTORY. [rAKT V. the Arabs, who, with the exception of the pilgrimage made wdth difficulty to Adam's Peak, appear to have known only the sea-coast and the mercantile commnni- ties estabhshed there, exhibit a marked difference when compared with those of the Chinese ; as the latter, in ad- dition to their trading operations in the south of the island, made their way into the interior, and penetrated to the cities in the northern districts. The explanation is to be found in the identity of the national worship at- tracting as it did the people of China to the sacred island, which had become tlie great metropohs of their common faith, and to the sympatliy and hospitahty with which the Singhalese welcomed the frequent visits of their distant co-rehgionists. Tins interchange of courtesies was eagerly encouraged by the sovereigns of the two countries. The emperors of China were accustomed to send ambassadors, both laymen and theologians, to obtain images and rehcs of Buddlia, and to collect transcripts of the sacred books, which contained the exposition of his doctrines^; — and the kings of Ceylon despatched embassies in return, authorised to reciprocate these rehgious sympathies and do homage to the imperial majesty of China. The historical notices of the island by the Chinese relative to the period immediately preceding the four- teenth century, are meagre, and confined to a native tradition that " about 400 years after the estabhsh- ment of the Idngdom, the Great Dynasty fell into decay, when there was but one man of wisdom and virtue belonging to the royal house to whom the people became attached : the monarch thereupon caused him to be thrown into prison ; but the lock opened of its OAvn accord, and the king thus satisfied of his sacred character did not venture to take his life, but drove tlieir hail', tlieir treatment of infants and children, the fact tliat the women as well as the men were addicted to chewing- betel, and that they did not sit down to meals with their hus- bands, but " retired to some private apartments to eat their food." ^ Hioucn-TJiscDig, Introd. Sta- nislas JULIEN, p. 1. Cii.vr. III.] CEYLOX AS KNOWN TO THE CHINESE. 619 liim into banishment to India (Ttien cliuli), whence, after marrpng a royal princess, he was recalled to Ceylon on the death of the tyi'ant, where he reigned twenty years, and was succeeded by his son, Po-kea Ta-To." ^ In this story may probably be traced the extinction of the " Great Dynasty " of Ceylon, on the demise of Maha-Sen, and the succession of the Sulu-wanse, or Lower Dynasty, in the person of Kitsiri Maiwan, A.D. 301, whose son, Detu Tissa, may possibly be the Po-kea Ta-to of the Chinese Chronicle. ^ The \isit of Fa Hian, the zealous Buddliist pilgrim, in the fifth century of our era, has been already fre- quently adverted to. ^ He landed in Ceylon a.d. 412, and remained for two years at Anarajapoora, engaged in transcribing the sacred books. Hence his descrip- tions are confined almost exclusively to the capital ; and he appears to have seen httle of the rest of the island. He dwells with dehght on the magnificence of the Buddhist buildings, the richness of their jewelled statues, and the prodigious dimensions of the dagobas, one of which, from its altitude and sohdity, was called the " Mountain ivithout fear." * But what most excited his admu-ation was his findino; no less than 5000 Buddhist priests at the capital, 2000 in a single monastery on a mountain (probably ]\iihintala), and between 50,000 and 60,000 dispersed througliout the rest of the island.^ Pearls and gems were the wealth of Ceylon ; and from the latter the king derived a royalty of three out of every ten discovered. ^ The earhest embassy from Ceylon recorded in the Chinese '^ annals at the beginning of the fifth century, ' Leang-shoo, "History of the Leang Draasty," b. liv. p. 10. ^ Mahmvanso, c. xxxvii. p 242. TmtNoiJii's Epitome, &c., p. 24. ^ The Foe-Koue Ki, or "Descrip- tion of Buddhist Iving-doms," by Fa- IIiAN, has been ti-anslated by Re- musat, and edited by Klaproth and Laudresse; 4to, Paris, 1830. * In Chinese, Woo-tvei. 5 Foe-Kom Ki, c. xxxviii. pp. 333, 334. 6 IhicL, c. xxxvii. p. 328. '' A.D. 405. Gibbon alludes with natural sui-jDrise to his discovery of the fact, that prior to the reipn of .Jus- tinian, the "monarch of China liad actually received an embassy from 620 MEDIEVAL HISTORY. [Part Y. appears to have proceeded overland by way of India, and was ten years before reacliing t]:e capital of China. It was the bearer of "a jade-stone image of Buddha, exhibiting every colour in purity and richness, in work- manship unique, and appearing to be beyond human art." 1 During the same century there were four other em- bassies from Ceylon. One a.d. 428, when the King Cha-cha Mo-ho-nan (Eaja Maha Naama) sent an ad- dress to the emperor, which will be found in the history of the Northern Sung dynasty^, together with a "model of the shrine of the tooth," as a token of fidelity ; — two in A.D. 430 and a.d. 435 ; and a fourth a.d. 456, when five priests, of whom one was Nante, the celebrated sculptor, brought as a gift to the emperor a " three-fold image of Buddha." ^ According to the Chinese annahsts, the kings of Ceylon, in the sixth century, acknowledged themselves vassals of the Emperor of China, and in the year 515, on the occasion of Kumara Das raising the chatta, an envoy was despatched with tribute to China, together with an address, announcing the royal accession, in which the king intimates that he " had been desirous to go in person, but Avas deterred by fear of winds and waves." '^ the island of Ceylon." — De:lvne and Fall, c. xl. ^ Leanf/shoo, A.D. COO, b. liv. p. 13. The ultimate fate of this re- nowned work of art is related in the Leang-shoo, and several other of the Chinese chronicles. Throughout the Tsin and Sung dynasties it was pre- served in the Wa-kwan monastery at Nankin, along vsdth five other statues and three paintings which were es- teemed chefs-d'oeuvre. The jade- stone image was at length destroyed in the time of Tung-hwan, of the Ts8 dynasty ; first, the arm was broken ofl^, and eventually the body taken to make hair-pins and arm- lets for the emperor's favourite con- sort PAvan. Nmi-sM, b. Ixxviii. p. 1.3. Ttm(/-teen, b. cxciii. p. 8. Tae- ping, &c., b. dcclxxxvii. p. G. ^ Sung-shoo, a.d. 487, b. xcvii. p. 5. ^ Probably one in each of the three orthodox attitudes, — sitting in meditation, standing to preach, and reposing in "nirwana." Wei-shoo, " History of the Wei Tartar Dynasty," a.d. 590, b. cxiv. p. 9. * Leanq-shoo, b. liv. p. 10. Yuh~ hne, " Ocean of Gems," A.D. 1331, b. clii. p. 33. The latter authority an- noimces in like terms two other em- bassies with tribute to China, one in Chap. TIL] CEYLOX AS KNOWx^ TO THE CHINESE. 621 But altliough all these embassies are recorded in the Chinese chronicles as so many instances of acknow- ledged subjection, there is every reason to beheve that the magniloquent terms in which they are described are by no means to be taken in a hteral sense, and that the offerings enumerated were merely in recognition of the privilege of commercial intercourse subsisting be- tween the two nations : but as the Chinese literati affect a lofty contempt for commerce, all allusion to trade is omitted ; and beyond an incidental remark in some works of secondary importance, the literature of China observes a dignified silence on the subject. Only one embassy is mentioned in the seventh cen- tury, when Dalu-piatissa despatched " a memorial and offerings of native productions ; " ^ but there were four in the century follo^ving ^, after wliich there occm^s an interval of above five hundred years, diu-ing which the Chinese writers are singularly silent regarding Ceylon ; but the Singhalese historians incidentally mention that swords and musical instruments were then imported from China, for the use of the native forces, and that Cliinese soldiers took service in the army of Prakrama III. A.D. 1266.3 In tlie thirteenth and fourteenth centuries, the only records of intercourse relate to the occasional despatch of pubhc officers by the emperor of China to collect gems A.D. 523^ and anotlier in tlie reigii of Kirti Sena, a.d. 527. _ The Tslh-fio yiien-kioei mentions a similar mission in A.D. 531, b. dcccclxviii. p. 20. ^ A.D. 670. Tsih-foo yiien-kwei, b. dcccclxx. p. 16. It was in the early part of this centmy, dming- a period of intestine commotion, when the native princes were overawed by the Malabars, that HioKvn-TIisanff met on the coast of India fugitives from Ceylon, from whom he derived his information as to the internal condition of the island, a.d. 029 — 633. See Transl. by Stanislas Ju- LIEN, '' La Vie dc Hiouen-Thsang,^^ Paris, 1853, pp. 192—198. 2 A.D. 711, A.D. 740, A.D. 750, and A.D. 762. Tsih-foo i/ucn-kwei, b. dcccclxxi. p. 17. On the second occasion (a.d. 740) the king, who despatched the embassy, is described as sending as his envoy a " Brahman priest, the anointed graduate of the threefold repository, bearing as offer- ings head-ornaments of gold, precious neck-pendants, a copy of the great Prajna Sutra, and forty webs of lino cotton cloth." ^ See the Kmvia-salcara, written about A.D. 1410. 622 MEDIAEVAL HISTOEY. [Part V. and medical drugs, and on three successive occasions during the earher part of the Yuen dynasty, envoys were empowered to negotiate the purchase of the sacred ahus- dish of Buddlia.^ The beginning of the fifteenth centuiy was, however, signahsed by an occurrence, the details of which throw hght over the internal condition of the island, at a period regarding which the native historians are more than usually obscure. At this time the glory of Bud- dhism had dechned, and the political ascendency of the Tamils had enabled the Brahmans to taint the national worship by an infusion of Hindu observances. The Se-yih-ke foo-choo, or " Description of Western Countries," says that in 1405 a.d. the reigning king, A-lee-koo-nae-wurh (Wijaya-bahu VI.), a native of SoUee, and "an adherent of the heterodox faith, so far from honouring Buddha, tyrannised over his followers." ^ He maltreated strangers resorting to the island, and plundered their vessels, " so that the envoys from other lands, in passing to and fro, were much annoyed by him." ^ In that year a mission from China, sent with incense ^ " In front of tlie image of Buddlia there is a sacred bowl wliicli is neitlier made of jade, nor copper, nor iron ; it is of a purple coloiu" and glossy, and when strnck it somids like glass. At the commencement of the Yuen djTiasty, three separate envoys were sent to obtain it." — Taou-e che-leo, ^^ Account of Island Foreigners," a.d. 1350, quoted in the '^ Foreiipi Geoc/ra- ^j/i7/," b. xviii. p. 15. This statement of the Chinese authorities corroborates the story told by Maeco Polo, pos- sibly from personal knowledge, that '' the Grand Khan Kublai sent am- bassadors to Ceylon with a request that the king would yield to him pos- session of ''the great ruby" in return for the "value of a city." — {Travels, ch. xix.) The MS. of 'Maeco Polo, which contains the Latin version of his Travels, is deposited in the Im- perial Library of Paris, and it_ is remarkable that a passage in it, which seems to be wanting in the Italian and other MSS., confirms this ac- count of the Chinese annalists, and states that the alms-dish of Buddha was at length yielded by the King of Ceylon as a gift to Kublai Khan, and carried with signal honour to China. Marco Polo describes the scene as something within his own know- ledge : — " Quando autem magnus Kaan scivit quod isti ambaxiatores redibant cimi reliquis istis, et erant prope terram ubi ipse tmic erat, scili- cet in Cambalu (Pekin), fecit mitti bandum quod omnes de terra obvia- rent reliquis istis (quia credebat quod essent reliquias de Adam) et istud fuit A.D. 1284." ^ B. xviii. p. 15. 3 3Iiiu/-she, b. cccxxvi. p. 7. CiiAP. III.] CEYLON AS KNOWN TO THE CHINESE. 623 aud ofTerings to the shrine of the tooth, was insidted and waylaid, and with difficulty effected an escape from Ceylon. '^ According to the Ming-she^ or History of the IVIing Dynasty, " the Emperor Clwig-isoo, inchgnant at tliis outrage on his people ; and apprehensive lest the influence of China in other countries besides Ceylon had declined during the reign of his predecessors, sent Chiiig- Ho, a soldier of distinction, mth a fleet of sixty-two ships and a large mihtary escort, on an expedition to visit the western kingdoms, furnished with proper cre- dentials and rich presents of silk and gold, Ching-Ho touched at Cochin-China, Sumatra, Java, Cambodia, Siam, and other places, " proclaiming at each the Imperial edict, and conferring Imperial gifts." If any of the princes re- fused submission, they were subdued by force ; and the expedition retm-ned to China in a.d. 1407, accompanied by envoys from the several nations, who came to pay court to the Emperor. Li the foUomng year Ching-Ho, having been de- spatched on a similar mission to Ceylon, the king, A-lee-ko- nae-wah, decoyed his party into the interior, threw up stockades with a view to their capture, in the hope of a ransom, and ordered soldiers to the coast to plunder the Chinese junks. But Ching-Ho, by a dexterous move- ment, avoided the attack, and invested the capital^, made a prisoner of the king, succeeded in conveying him on board his fleet, and carried liim captive to China, together with his queen, liis children, his officers of state, and his attendants. He brought away with him spoils, wliich were lono; afterwards exliibited in the Tsino;- hae monastery at Nankin ^, and one of the commentaries on the Si-yu-ke of Hiouen Thseng, states that amongst the articles carried away, was the sacred tooth of ' Se-yih-kc foo-clioo, b. xviii. p. 15. \ ^ Gainpola. This Cliiuese in-sasion of Ceylon lias ^ Suh- Wan-lucn tung-kaou, book been already adverted to in the sketch , ccxxxvi. p. 12. of the domestic histoiy of the island, Vol. I. Part IV. ch. xi'i. p. 417. ' 9 s 4 624 MEDIAEVAL HISTOEY. [Part V. Buddha. ^ " In the sixth month of the year 1411," says the author of the Ming-She^ " the prisoners were presented at court. The Chinese ministers pressed for their execution, but the emperor, in pity for their ig- norance, set them at hberty, but commanded them to select a virtuous man from the same family to occupy the throne. All the captives declared in favour of Seay-pa- nae-na, whereupon an envoy was sent with a seal to invest him with the royal dignity, as a vassal of the empire," and in that capacity he was restored to Ceylon, the former king being at the same time sent back to the island.^ It would be difficult to identify the names in this story with the kings of the period, were it not stated in another chronicle, the Woo-heo-peen, or Eecord of the Ming Dynasty, that Seay-pa-nae-na was afterwards named Pu-la-ko-ma Ba-zae La-cha^ in which it is not difficult to recognise "Sri Prakrama Baku Eaja," the sixtli of his name, who transferred tlie seat of govern- ment from Gampola to Cotta, and reigned from a.d. 1410 to 1462.3 For fifty years after tliis untoward event the sub- jection of Ceylon to China appears to have been ^ See note at the end of this cliapter. ^ 3Iing-she, b. cccxxvi. p. 5. M. Stanislas Jitlien intimates that the forthcoming- volume of his version of the Sl-yu-hiy^A\\ contain the eleventh book, in which an accoimt will be given of the expedition of Ching- Ho. - — 3Iei)ioires sur les Contrees Occiden- taJes, torn. i. p. 26. In anticipation of its publication, M. JuLiEN has been so obliging as to make for me a translation of the passage regarding Ceylon, but it proves to be an anno- tation of the fifteenth century, which, by the inadvertence of transcribers, has become interpolated in the text of Iliouen- TJisa»f/. It contains, how- ever, no additional facts or state- ments beyond the questionable one before alluded to, that the sacred tooth of Buddha was amongst the spoils carried to Pekin by Ching: Ho. 3 Woo-Mo-peen, b. Ixviii. p. 5. See also the Ta-tsing ylh-tung, a topooi-aphical account of the Manchoo empire, a copy of which is among the Chinese books in the British Museum. In the very imperfect version of the Rqjavali, published by Upham, this important passage is rendered un- intelligible by the want of fidelity of the ti-anslator, who has transformed the conqueror into a " Malabar," and ante-dated the event by a century. {Rqjavali, p. 263.) I am indebted to Mr. De Alwis, of Colombo, for a correct translation of the original, which is as follows : "In the reign of King Wijayo-bahu, the King of Maha (great) China landed in Ceylon with an army, pretending that he was bringing tribute ; King Wijaj^o- CiiAP. III.] CEYLON AS liNOWN TO THE CHINESE. 62^ liiimbly and periodically acknowledged ; tribute was punctually paid to the emperor, and on two occasions, in 1416 A.D., and 1421 a.d., the kings of Ceylon were the bearers of it in person.' In 1430 A.D., at a period of intestine commotion, " Cliing-Ho issued a proclama- tion for the pacification of Ceylon," and, at a somewhat later period, edicts were promulgated by the Emperor of Cliina for the government of the island.^ In 1459 A.D., however, the series of humiliations appears to have come abruptly to a close ; for, " in that year," says the Ming-she^ "the King of Ceylon for the last time sent an envoy with tribute, and after that none ever came again." On their arrival in Ceylon early in the sixteenth century^, the Portuguese found many evidences stiU existing of the intercourse and influence of the Chinese. They learned that at a former period they had esta- blished themselves in the south of the island ; and both De Barros and De Couto ventured to state that the Singhalese were so called from the inter-marriage of the Chinese with the Grallas or Chahas, the caste who in great numbers still inhabit the country to the north of Point de Galle.^ But the conjecture is erroneous, the derivation of Singhala is clearly traced to the Sanskrit baliu, believing liis professions (be- cause it had been customary in the time of King Prakrama-bahu for foreign countries to pay tribute to Ceylon), acted incautiously, and he was ti-eacherously taken prisoner by the foreign king. His four brothers were killed, and with them fell many people, and the king himself was car- ried captive to China." De Couto, in his continuation of De Baekos, has introduced the story of the cap- ture of the king by the Chinese ; but he has confounded the dates, mysti- fied the facts, and altered the name of the new sovereign to Pandar, which is probably only a corruption of the Singhalese Banda, " a prince." — De Couto, Asia, Sfc, dec. v. lib. i. c. vi. vol. ii. part i. p. 51. Puechas says : " The Singhalese language is thought to have been left there by the Chinois, some time Loi-d of Zeilan. " — Pilgrimmie, c. xviii. p. 552. The adventures of Ching Ho, in his embassy to the nations of the Southern Ocean, have been made the ground-work of a novel, the 8c-ytmg-ke, which contains an en- larged account of his exploits in Ceylon ; but fact is so overlaid with fiction that the passages ai'e not worth extracting. ^ 3Ihi(/-she, b. vii. pp. 4, 8. ^ Ibid., b. cccxxvii. p. 7. 3 A.D. 1505. ■* " Serem os Chijis senhores da costa Choromandcl, parte do Malabar 626 MEDIAEVAL HISTORY. [Part V. " Singlia ; " besides wliicli, in the alphabet of the Sin- ghalese, n and g combine to form a single and insoluble letter. In process of time, every trace disappeared of the former presence of the Chinese in Ceylon — embassies ceased to arrive from the " Flowery Kingdom," Chi- nese vessels deserted the harbom^s of the island, pil- grims no longer repaired to the shrines of Buddha ; and even the inscriptions became obhterated in which the imperial offerings to the temples were recorded on the rocks.* The only mementos which remain at the present day to recall their ancient domestication in the island, is the occasional appearance in the mountain villages of an itinerant vender of sweetmeats, or a hut in the sohtary forest near some cave, from which an impoverished Chinese renter annually gathers the edible nest of the swallow. NOTE. As it may be interesting to learn the opinions of the Chinese at the present day regarding Ceylon, the following account of the island has been translated for me by Dr. Lockhart, of Shanghae, from a popular work on geography, written by the late lieutenant-governor of the province of Fokhien, assisted by e desta Illia Ceilao. Na qual Illia leixavam liuma lingua, a que elles cliamam Cliingalla, e aos proprios poYOs Cliiugallas, principalmente os que vivem da poiita de Galle por dianto ua face da terra contra o Sid, e Oriente : e por ser pegada neste Cabo Galle, chamou a outra gente, que vivia do meio da ilha pera cima, aos que aqui habitaAani Chingalla e a lingua delles tambem, quasi como se dissessem limjua ou tjente dos Chi/o de Galle.'' — De Babkos, Asia, i^-c, Dec. iii. lib. ii. c. i. De Couto's account is as follows : '* E como os Chins formam os primeii-os que nave- garam pelo Oriente, tendo noticia da canella, acudiram muitos 'j uncos' aquella Ilba a carregar della, e dalli a levaram aos portos de Persia, e da Arabia donde passou a Europa — de que se deixarani ficar muitos Cbins na terra, e se misturaram por easa- mentos com os naturaes ; dantre qtiem nasceram huns misf^os que se ficaram chamando Cim- G alias ; ajuntando o nome dos naturaes, que eram Gallas aos dos Chins, que vieram por tem- pos a ser tao famosos, que deram o seu nome a todos os da Ilba." — Asia, ^•c, Dec. V. lib. ch. v. ' Suh- Wan-Men tung-haou, book ccxxxAi. p. 12. Chap. III.] CEYLON AS KNOWN TO THE CHINESE. G27 some foreigners. The book is called Ying-liwau-cbe-ke, or *' The Greneral Account of the Encircling Ocean." " Seih-lan is situated in Southern India, and is a large island in the sea, on the south-east coast, its circumference being about 1000 le (300 miles), having in the centre lofty- mountains ; on the coast the land is low and marshy. The country is characterised by much rain and constant thunder. The hills and valleys are beautifully ornamented with flowers and trees of great variety and beauty, the cries of the animals rejoicing together fill the air with gladness, and the landscape abounds with splendour. In the forests are many elephants, and the natives use them instead of draught oxen or horses. The people are all of the Buddhistic religion ; it is said that Buddha was born here : he was born with an excessive number of teeth. The grain is not sufficient for the inhabitants, and they depend for food on the various districts of India. Gems are found in the hills, and pearls on the sea coast ; the cinnamon that is produced in the country is excellent, and much superior to that of Kwaug-se. In the middle of the Ming dynasty, the Portuguese seized upon Seih-lan and esta- blished marts on the sea coast, which by schemes the Hol- landers took from them. In the first year of Kia-King (1795), the English drove out the Hollanders and took possession of the sea coast. At this time the people of Seih-lan, on account of their various calamities or invasions, lost heart. Their city on the coast, called Colombo, was attacked by the English, and the inhabitants were dispersed or driven away ; then the whole island fell into the hands of the English, who eventually sub- jected it. The harbour for rendezvous on the coast is called Ting-ko-ma-le." To this the Chinese commentator adds, on the authority of a work, from which he quotes, entitled, " A Treatise on the Diseases of all the Kingdoms of the Earth : " — " The Kingdom of Seih-lan was anciently called Lang-ya- sew ; , the passage from Soo-mun-ta-che (Sumatra), with a favourable wind, is twelve days and nights; the country is extensive, and the people numerous, and the products abun- dant, but inferior to Kiva-wa (Java). In the centre are lofty mountains, which yield the A-kilh (crow and pigeon) gems ; after every storm of rain they are washed down from the hills, and gathered among the sand. From Chang-tsun, Lin- yih in the extreme west, can be seen. In the foreign language. 628 MEDIEVAL HISTORY. [Part V. the high mountain is called Seih-lan ; hence the name of the island. It is said Buddha (Shih-ka) came from the island of Ka-lon (the gardens of Buddha), and ascended this mountain, on which remains the trace of his foot. Below the hill there is a monastery, in which they preserve the nee-pwan (a Bud- dhistic phrase, signifying the world ; literally rendered, his defiling or defiled vessel) and the Shay-le-tsze, or relics of Buddha. "In the sixth year of his reign (1407), Yung-16, of the Ming dynasty, sent an ambassador extraordinary, Ching-Ho and others, to transmit the Imperial mandate to the King A-lee- j6-nai-wah, ordering him to present numerous and valuable offerings and banners to the monastery, and to erect a stone tablet, and rewarding him by his appointment as tribute bearer; A-lee-j6-nai-wurh ungratefully refusing to comply, they seized him, in order to bring him to terms, and chose from among his nearest of kin A-pa-nae-na, and set him on the throne. For fourteen years, Teen-ching, Kwa-wa (Java), Mwan-che-kea, Soo-mun-ta-che (Sumatra), and other coun- tries, sent tribute in the tenth year of Chin-tung, and the third year of Teen-shun they again sent tribute." ' " I have heard from an American, A-pe-le^, that Seih-lan was the original country of Teen-chuh (India), and that which is no'Wf called Woo-yin-too was Teen-chiih, but in the course of time the names have become confused. According to the records of the later Han dynasty, Teen-chuh was considered the Shin-tuh, and that tlie name is not that of an island, but of the whole country. I do not know what proof there is for A-pe-le's statement." ' There is here some confusion in the chronology, as Teen-shvm reigned before Chinof-tung-. - ]\Ir. Abeel; an American mis- sionary. Gl[) CHAP. IV. CEYLON AS KXOWN TO THE MOORS, GENOESE, AND VENETIANS. The rapid survey of the commerce of India during the middle ages, which it has been necessary to in- troduce into the preceding narrative, wiU also serve to throw hght on a subject hitherto but imperfectly in- vestigated. The most remarkable of the many tribes which in- habit Ceylon are the Mahometans, or, as they are generaUy called on the island, the " Moor-men," ener- getic and industrious communities of whom are found on all parts of the coast, but whose origin, adventures, and arrival are amongst the historical mysteries of Ceylon. The meaningless designation of " Moors," apphed to them, is the generic term by wliich it was customary at one time, in Europe, to describe a Mahometan, from whatsoever country he came, as the word Gentoo^ was formerly applied in England to the inhabitants of Hindustan, without distinction of race. The prac- tice probably originated from the Spaniards having given that name to the followers of the Prophet, who, after traversing Morocco, overran the peninsula in the seventh and eighth centuries.^ The epithet w^as borrowed by the Portuguese, who, after their discovery ^ The practice originated with the Portuguese, wlio applied to any un- converted native of India the term gentio, " idolator " or " barbarian." ^ Tlie Spanish word " 3Ioro " and the Portuguese, " Ilouro " may be traced either to tlie " Mauri/' the ancient people of Mauritania, now Morocco, or to the modem name of "Moghrib," by which the inhabi- tants, the Moghribins, designate their country-. 630 MEDIEVAL IIISTOEY. [Part V- of the passage by the Cape of Good Hope, bestowed it indiscriminately upon the Arabs and their descen- dants, whom, in the sixteenth century, they found estabhshed as traders in every port on the Asian and African coast, and whom they had good reason to regard as their most formidable competitors for the commerce of the East. Particular events have been assumed as marking the probable date of their first appearance in Ceylon. Sir Alexander Johnston, on the authority of a tradition current amongst their descendants, says, that " the first Mahometans who settled there were driven from Arabia in the early part of the eighth century, and estab- hshed themselves at Jaffna, Manaar, Koodramah, Putlam, Colombo, Barberyn, Point de Galle, and Trin- comalie." ^ The Dutch authorities, on the other hand, hold that the Moors were Moslemin only by profession, that by birth they were descendants of a mean and detestable Malabar caste, who in remote times had been converted to Islam through intercourse with the Arabs of Bassora and the Eed Sea ; that they had frequented the coasts of India as seamen, and then in- fested them as pirates ; and that their first appearance in Ceylon was not earher than the century preceding the landing of the Portuguese.^ The truth, however, is, that there were Arabs in Ceylon ages before the earliest date named in these ^ Trans. Roy. Asiat. Society, 1827, A.B. vol. i. 538. The Moors, who were the informants of Sii' Alexander Johnston, probably spoke on the equi- vocal authority of the Toltfut-ul- mtfjahidcen, which is generally, but erroneously, descriljed as a narrative of the settlement of the Mahometans in Malabar. Its second chapter gives an account of "the manner in which the Mahometan religion was first propagated " there ; and states that iLs eai'liest apostles were a Sheikh and his companions, who touched at Cranganore about 822 a.d., when on their journey as pilgiims to the sacred foot-print on Adam's Peak. (RowLANDSON, Orient. Transl. Fund, pp. 47. 55.) But the introduction of the new faith into this part of India was subsequent to the arrival of the Arabs themselves, who had long be- fore formed establishments at nume- rous places on the coast. ^ VALENXrN, ch. XV. p. 214, CiiAp. IV.] CEYLON AS KNOWN TO THE MOORS. C31 conjectures^ ; they were known there as traders centuries before Mahomet Avas born, and such was then: passion for enterprise, that at one and the same moment they were pursuing commerce in the Indian Ocean ^, and manning the gaUeys of Marc Antony in the fatal sea- fight at Actium.^ The author of the Periplus found them in Ceylon about the first Cliristian century, Cos- mas Indico-pleustes in the sixth ; and they had become so numerous in China in the eighth, as to cause a tumult at Canton.^ From the tentli till the fifteenth century, the Arabs, as merchants, were the undisputed masters of the East ; they formed commercial establishments in every country that had productions to export, and their vessels sailed between every sea-port from Sofala to Bab-el-Mandeb, and from Aden to Sumatra.'^ The " Moors," who at the present day inhabit the coasts of Ceylon, are the descendants of these active adventurers ; they are not purely Aiixbs in blood, but descendants from Ai'abian ancestors by intermarriage with the native races who embraced the rehgion of the Prophet.^ ^ MorNTSTTTAKT Elphinstone, on the authority of Agatharchidos (as quoted by Diodorus aud Photius)^ says, that " fi-om all that appears in that author, we should conclude that two centuries before the Christian era, the trade (between India and the ports of Saba3a) was entirely in the hands of the Arabs." — Hist. India, b. ill. c. X. p. 167. 2 Pliny, b. vi. c. 22. ' " Omnis eo terrore /Egyptiis et Indi Omnes Arabes vertebant terga Sabasi.*' ViHGiL, ^)i. viii. 705. 4 Abou-zetd, vol. i. p. xlii. cix. ^ Vincent, vol. ii. p. 451. The INIoors of Ceylon are identical in race with 'Hhe Mopillees of tlie Malabar coast." — M'Kenzie, Asiat, Rvs., vol. vi. p. 430. •^ In a former worlc, " Christianitij in Ceylon^'' I was led, by incon-ect information, to describe a section of the Moors as belonging to the sect of the Shiahs, and using the Persian language in the service of their mosques (c. i. note, p. 34). There is reason to believe that at a former period there were Mahometans in Ceylon to whom this description would apply; but at the present day the Moors throughout the island are, I believe, imiversally Sounees, belong- ing to one of the fom- orthodox sects called Shdfees, and using Arabic as their ritual dialect. Their vemacidar is Tamil, mixed with a number of Arabic words ; aud all their religious books, except the Koran, are in that dialect. Casie Chitty, the erudite District Judge of Chilaw, writes to me that " the Moors of Ceylon be- lieve themselves to be of the posterity of Hashem; and, according to one tradition, their progenitors were dri- ven from Arabia by Mahomet himself, as a punishment for their cowardice at the battle of Ohod. But according to anether version, tliey tied from the tyranny of the Khalif Abu al Melek 632 MEDIEVAL HISTOEY. [Part V. The Singhalese epithet of ^^ Marak-kala-minisu" or "Mariners," describes at once theii' origin and occu- pation ; but during the middle ages, when Ceylon was the Tyre of Asia, these immigrant traders became traders in all the products of the island, and the brokers through whose hands they passed in exchange for the wares of foreign countries. At no period were they either manufactm^ers or producers in any department ; their genius was purely commercial, and theu- attention was exclusively devoted to buying and selling what had been previously produced by the industry and ingenuity of others. They were dealers in jewelry, connoisseurs in gems, and collectors of pearls ; and whilst the con- tented and apathetic Singhalese in the villages and forests of the interior passed their hves in the cultivation of their rice-lands, and sought no other excitement than the pomp and ceremonial of their temples ; the busy and ambitious Mahometans on the coast built their ware- houses at the ports, crowded the harboiurs with their shipping, and collected the wealth and luxmies of the island, its precious stones, its dye-woods, its spices and ivory, to be forwarded to China and the Persian Gulf. Marco Polo, in the thirteenth century, found the Moors in uncontested possession of this busy and lucra- tive trade, and Barbosa, in his account of the island, A. D. 1519, says, that not only were they to be found in every sea-port and city, conducting and monopohsing its com- merce, but Moors from the coast of Malabar were con- tinually arriving to swell their numbers, alhu'cd by the facihties of commerce and the unrestrained freedom en- ben Merivan, in the early part of the eighth century. Their first settle- ment in India was formed at Kail- patam, to the east of Cape Comorin, whence that place is still regarded as the < father-land of the Moors.' " Another of their traditions is, that their first landing-place in Ceylon was at Barberyn, south of Caltura, in the 402nd year of the Ilejira, (a. d. 1024.) These legends would seem, to refer to the anival of some important section of the Moors, but not to the first appearance of this remarkable people in Ceylon. The Ceylon Gazetteer, Cotta, 1834, p. 254, contains a valuable paper by Casie Chittyon 'Hhe Manners and Customs of the Moors of Ceylon." Chap. IV.] CEYLON AS KNOWN TO THE MOOES. 633 joyed under tlie government.^ In process of time their prosperity invested tliem with pohtical influence, and in the dechne of the Singhalese monarchy they took ad- vantage of the feebleness of the king of Cotta, to direct armed expeditions against parts of the coast, to plunder the inhabitants, and supply themselves with elephants and pearls.^ They engaged in conspiracies against the native princes ; and Wijayo Bahu VII., who was mur- dered in 1534, was slain by a turbulent Moorish leader called Soleyman, whom his eldest son and successor had mstis:ated to the crime.^ The appearance of the Portuguese in Ceylon at this critical period, served not only to check the career of the Moors, but to extinguish the independence of the native princes ; and looldng to the facihty with which the former had previously superseded the Malabars, and were fast acquu'ing an ascendency over the Singhalese chiefs, it is not an unreasonable conjecture that, but for this timely appearance of a Christian power in the island, Ceylon, instead of a possession of the British crown, might at the present day have been a Mahometan king- dom, under the rule of some Arabian adventm^er. But although the position of the Arabs in relation to the commerce of the East underwent no unfavourable change prior to the arrival of the Portuguese in the Indian seas, numerous circumstances combined in the early part of the sixteenth century to bring other European nations into communication with the East. ' '^ Molti Mori Malabari vengono a stantiare in questa isola per esser in gTandissima liberta, oltra tutte le commodita c delitie del mondo," etc. — Odoardo Bakbosa, Sommario clelle Indie Orientale, in Eamusio, vol. i. p. 313. 2 Rajavali, p. 274. 3 lb., p. 284. PoECACCHT, in his Isolario, wi-itten at Venice a.d. 157G, thus records the traditional i-eputa- VOL. I. T tion of the Moors of Ceylon : — " I Mori ch' habitano hogoi la Taprobana fanno gi-andissimi traihchi, nauigando per tutto : et piu anchora vengono da diverse parte molte mercantie, massi- mamente dal paese di Cambaia, con coralli, cinabi-io, et argento vivo. Ma son questi Mori perfidi et ani- niazzono spesse, volte i lor Re ; et ne creano degli altri." — Page 188. 634 MEDIEVAL HISTORY, [Part V. The productions of India, whether they passed by tlie Oxus to the Caspian, or were transported in cara- vans from the Tigris to the shores of the Black Sea, were poured into the magazines of Constantinople, the merchants of which, previous to the fall of the Lower Emph-e, were the most opulent in the world. During the same period, Egy[>t commanded the trade of the Eed Sea ; and received, through Aden, the luxuries of the far East, mth which she supphed the Moorish princes of Spain, and the countries bordering on the Mediterranean. ^ Even when the dominion of the Khahfs was threat- ened by the rising power of the Turks, and long after the subsidence of the commotions and vicissitudes which marked the period of the Crusades, part of this lucrative commerce was still carried to Alexandria, by the Nile and its canals. The Genoese and Vene- tians, each eager to engross the supply of Europe, sought permission from the Emperors to form estabhsh- ments on the shores of the Black Sea and the Mediter- ranean. The former advanced their fortified factories as far eastward as Tabriz, to meet the caravans returning from the Persian Gulf^, and the latter, in addition to the formation of settlements at Tyre, Bep^out, and Acre ^, acquired after the fourth crusade, succeeded (in defiance of the interdict of the Popes against trading with the infidel) in negotiating a treaty with the Mamelukes for a share in the trade of Alexandria.^ It was through Venice that England and the western na- ^ Odoabdo Babbosa, in Ramusio, vol. i. p. 292. Baldelli Boni, Rela- zione (h'lr JEuropn e dcW Asia, lib. ix. ch. xlvii. Fakia y Sotjsa, Portug. Asia, part i. cli. viii. 2 Gibbon, Dcd. and Fall, cli. Ixiii. 2 Dabtj, Hist, de Venise, lib. xix. vol. iv. p. 74. Macpherson's Annals of ConuiuTce, vol. i. p. 370. * So impatient were the Venetians to grasp the trade of Alexandria that Marino Sannto, about the year 1321 A.D., endeavoured to excite a new crusade in order to "^Test it from the Sultan of Eg^'pt by force of arms. Secreta Fidelium Crucis, in BoNGAES, Gesta Dei jjer Francos, Hanau, 1611. Adam Smith, Wealth of Nations, h. iv. ch. vii. Dahu, Hist, de Venise^ lib, xix. vol. iv. p. 88. Chap. IV.] CEYLON AS KNOWN TO VENETIANS. 635 tions obtained the delicacies of India and China, down to the period when the overland route and the Eed Sea were deserted for the grander passage by the Cape of Good Hope.^ Another great event which stimulated the commercial activity of the Itahans in the thirteenth and fourteenth centimes, was the extraordinary progress of the Mongols, who in an incredibly short space of time absorbed Cen- tral Asia into one powerful empire, overthrew the ancient monarchy of China, penetrated to the heart of Eussia, and directed their arms with equal success both against Poland and Japan. Tlie popes and the sovereigns of Europe, ahke alarmed for thek dominions and their faith, despatched ambassadors to the Great Khan ; the mission resulted in allajTing apprehension for the further advance of their formidable neiglibours towards the west, and the vigilant merchants of Venice addressed themselves to effect an opening for trade in the new domains of the Tartar princes. It is to this commercial enterprise that we are in- debted for the first authentic information regarding China and India, that reached Europe after the silence of the middle ages ; and the voyages of the Venetians, in some of wliich the reahties of travel appear as extra- ordinary as the incidents of romance, contain accounts of Ceylon equally interesting and rehable. Marco Polo, who left Venice as a youth in the year 1271, and resided seventeen years at the court of Kul^la Khan, was the first European who penetrated to China Proper ; whence he embarked in a.d. 1291, at Fo-Kien, and passing through the Straits of Malacca, rested at Ceylon, on his homeward route by Ormuz. He does not name the port in Ceylon at wliicli he * Giiiuox, Ded. and Fall, ch. Ix. Tlie last of the Venetiau ''argosies" whicli reached the shores of England T T 2 was cast away on the Isle of "Wight, A.D. 1587. 636 MEDLEVAL HISTORY. [Pakt V. landed, but he calls tlie Idng Sender-naz^ a name wliich may possibly be identified with the Malay Chandra- banu, who twice invaded the island during the reign of Pandita Prakrama-bahu III.^ He repeats the former exaggerated account as to the dimensions of Ceylon ; he says that it was beheved to have been anciently larger still, and he shows inciden- tally that as early as the thuteenth century, the Arab sailors possessed charts of the island which they used in navigating the Indian seas.^ Then, as now, the universal costume of the Singhalese was the cotton " comboy," worn only on the lower half of the body ^, their grains were sesamum and rice ; their food the latter with milk and flesh-meat ; and their diink coco-nut toddy, which Marco calls "wine drawn fi'om the trees." He dwells with rapture on the gems and costly stones, and, above all, on the great ruby, a span long, for which Kubla Khan offered the value of a city. With singular truth he says, " the people are averse to a military hfe, abject and timid, and when they have occasion to employ soldiers, they procure them from other countries in the vicinity of the Mahometans." From this it would seem that six hundred years ago, it was the practice in Ceylon, as it is at the present day, to recruit the forces of the island from the Malays. The next Venetian whose travels qualified him to speak of Ceylon was the Minorite friar Odoeic, of Portenau in Friuh^, who, setting out from the Black Sea in 1318, traversed the Asian continent to China, and retm^ned to Italy after a journey of twelve years. In Ceylon he was struck by the number of serpents, 1 Pandita Prakraina Bahoo III. was also called KalikaUa Saahitya Sargwajnya. — Tuhnohr's Epitome, p. 44. "^ I have seen with the sailors of the Maldives, who resort to Ceylon at the present day, charts e\ddently copied fi'om very ancient originals. ^ See the drawing, page 612. * Itinerarmm Fratris Odoeici de Foro Julii de Portii-Vahonis. Chap. IV.] CEYLOX AS KXOWN TO VENETIANS. 637 and the multitude of wild animals, lions (leopards?), bears, and elephants. " In it he saw the mountain on which Adam for the space of 500 years mourned the death of Abel, and on which his tears and those of Eve formed, as men beheved, a fountain ; " but this Odoric discovered to be a delusion, as he saw the spring gush- ing from the earth, and its waters " flowing over jewels, but abounding with leeches and blood-suckers." The natives were permitted by the king to collect the gems ; and in doing so they smear their bodies with the juice of lemons to protect them from the leeches. The wild creatures, they said, however dangerous to the inhabi- tants of the island, were harmless to strangers. In that island Odoric saw " birds with two heads," which possibly implies that he saw the hornbill \ whose huge and double casque may explain the expression. In the succeeding century^ the most authentic ac- count of Ceylon is given by NicoLO di Conti, another Venetian, who, though of noble family, had settled as a * BiKeros Pica. See ante, Part ii. eh. ii. p. 167. ^ Among the waiters on India in the 14th century, a.d. 1323, was the Dominican missionary Jourdain Catalan!, or " Jordan de Severac," regarding whose title of Bishoj) of Colombo, " Episcopus Cohimbensis," it is somewhat uncertain wliether his .see was in Ceylon, or at Coulam (Quilon), on the Malabar coast. The probability in favoiu* of the latter is sustained by the fact of the very limited accomats of the island con- tained in his Mirabilia, a work in which he has recorded his observa- tions on the Dekkan. Cinnamon he describes as a production of Malabar, and Ceylon he extols only for its gems, pre-eminent among which were two rubies, one worn by the iing, suspended round his neck, and the other which, when grasped in the hand, could not be covered by the fingers, " Non credo niundum habere miiversimi tales duo lapides, nee tauti pretii." The MS. of Fra. Joeda- NUs's 3IirabiJia has been printed in the Recueil des Voyages of the So- ciety Geogi". of Paris, vol. i. p. 49. Giovanni de Maeignola, a Floren- tine and Legate of Clement YL, landed in Ceylon in 1.349 a.d., at which time the legitimate king was driven away and the supreme power left in the hands of a eunuch whom he calls Coja-Jvan, " pessimus Sara- ceuus." The legate's attention was chiefly directed to " the moimtain opposite Paradise." — Dobner, 3Io- num. Ilistor. Boemice. Pragae, 1704- 85. John of IIesse in his "Itineraiy" (in which occurs the date a.d. 1398) says, " Adsunt et in quadam insula nomine Taprobanes viri crudelissimi et moribus asperi : pennag-nas habeut aures, et illas plmimis gemmis oruaro dicimtiu'. Hi carnal hunianas pro SKinmis deliciis comedunt."' — JoHAN- Nis DE Hesse, Presb)i:eri Itinerarinm, etc. T T 3 638 MEDIiEVAL HISTORY. [Part V. mercliant at Damascus, whence lie had travelled over Persia, India, the Eastern Archipelago, and China. Eeturning by way of Arabia and the Eed Sea, in 1444, he fell into danger amongst some fanatical Mahometans, and was compelled to renounce the faith of a Christian, less from regard for his own safety than apprehension for that of his children and wife. For this apostacy he be- sought the pardon of Pope Eugenius IV., who absolved him from guilt on condition that he should recount his adventures to the apostohc secretary, Poggio Bracciolini, by whom they have been preserved in his dissertation on " The Vicissitudes of Fortune.'''' ' Di Conti is, I beheve, the first European who speaks of cinnamon as a production of Ceylon. " It is a tree," he says, " which grows there in abundance, and which very much I'esembles our thick willows, excepting that the branches do not grow u])wai'ds, but spread hori- zontally ; the leaves are like those of the laurel, but somewhat larger ; the bark of the branches is thinnest and best, that of the trunk thick and inferior in flavour. The fruit resembles the beiries of the laurel ; the Indians extract from it an odoriferous oil, and the wood, after the bark has been stripped from it, is used by them for fuel." 2 The narrative of Di Conti, as it is printed by Eamusio, from a Portuguese version, contains a passage not found in Poggio, in which it is alleged that a river of Ceylon, called Arotan, has a fish somewhat like the torpedo, but whose touch, instead of elec^.rifying, produces a fever so long as it is held in the hand, relief being instantaneous on letting it go.^ ^ De Varietafe Fortmice, Basil, 1538. An admirable translation of the narrative of Di Conti has re- cently been made by R. H. Major, Esq., for the Hakhiyt Society. Lon- don, 1857. 2 Poggio makes Nicolo di Conti say that the island contains a lake, in the middle of which is a city three miles in circumference ; but this is evi- dently an amplification of his own, borrowed from the passage in which Pliny (whom Poggio elsewhere quotes) alludes to the fabulous Lake Megisba. — Plint, lib. vi. ch. xxiv. ^ Di Conti in Ramusio, vol. i. p. 344. There are two other Italian travellers of this century who touched Cii.vr. lY.] CEYLOX AS KXOWX TO VENETIANS. 639 The sixteenth century was prohfic in navigators, the accounts of Avhose adventures served to diffuse tlirough- out Em"ope a general knowledge of Ceylon, at least as it was known superficially before the arrival of the Portuguese. Ludovico Barthema, or Varthema, a Bolognese ^, remained at a port on the west coast ^ for some days in 1506. The four kings of the island being busily engaged in civil war^, he found it difficult to land, but he learned that permission to search for jewels at the foot of Adam's Peak might be obtained by the payment of five ducats, and restoring as a royalty all gems over ten carats. Fruit was dehcious and abundant, especially artichokes and oranges^, but rice was so insufficiently cultivated that the sovereigns of the island were dependent for their supphes upon the King of Narsingha, on the continent of India. ^ This statement of Barthema is without quahfication; there can be httle doubt that it applied chiefly to the southern parts of the island, and that the north was still able to produce food sufficient for the wants of the inhabitants. Barthema found the suj^ply of cinnamon small, and so precarious that the cuttmg took place but once in three years. The Singhalese were at that time ignorant of at Ceylon ; one a " Gentleman of Floeexce," whose story is printed by Raniusio (but ■ndtliout tlie autlior's name), wlio accompanied Vasco de Gama, in the year 1479, in his voyage to Calicut, and who speaks of the trees '' che fanno la caneUa in molta perfettione."— Vol. i. p. 120. The other isGinoLAMO di Saxxo Stefano, a Genoese, who, in pursuit of com- merce, made a journey to India which he described on his return in 1499, in a letter inserted by Eamusio in his collection of voyages. He stayed but one day in the island, and saw only its coco-nuts, jewels, and cinnamon. — Vol. i. p. 345. ^ Itinerario de Ltjdovico de VABinEMA, Bolognese, no lo Egypto, ne la Suna, ne la Arabia Deseiia e Felice, ne la Persia, ne la India, e ne la ^Ethiopia — la fede el vivere e costume de tutte le prefatte provincie. Roma, loll, a. D. ^ Probably Colombo. ^ These conflicts and the actors in them are described in the Rajavali, p. 274. ■* '^ Carzofoli megliori che li nosti-i, melangoli dolci, li megliori credo, che siano nel mondo." — Varthema, pt. xxvii. ^ " In questo paese non nasce riso ; ma ne li -viene da teiTa ferma. Li re de quella isola sono tributarii d'il re de Narsinga per repetto del riso." — Itin., pt. xxvii. See also Baebosa, in Eamusio, vol. i. p. 312. 640 MEDIEVAL HISTOEY. [Part V. tlie use of gunpowder ^, and their arms were swords and lance-heads mounted on shafts of bamboo ; " with these they fought, but their battles were not bloody." The Moors were in possession of the trade, and the king sent a message to Varthema and his companions, expressive of his desire to purchase their commodities ; but in con- sequence of a hint that payment would be regulated by the royal discretion, the Itahans weighed anchor at night- fall and bade a sudden adieu to Ceylon. Early in the sixteenth century, Odoaedo Baebosa, a Portuguese captain, who had sailed in the Indian seas, compiled a summary of all that was then known concerning the countries of the East^, with which the people of Portugal had been brought into connection by their recent discovery of the passage round the Cape of Good Hope. Writing partly from personal observation, but chiefly from information obtained from the previous accounts of Di Conti, Barthema and Corsah ^, he speaks of that " grandest and most lovely island, wliich the Moors of Arabia, Persia, and S5n:ia call Zeilam, but the Indians, Tenarisim, or the land of delights" Its ports Avere crowded with Moors, who monopohsed commerce, and its inhabitants, whose complexions were fair and their stature robust and stately, were altogether devoted to pleasure and indifferent to arms. Barbosa appears to have associated chiefly with the Moors, whose character and customs he describes almost as they exist at the present day. He speaks of their heads, covered with the finest handkerchiefs ; of their ear-rings, so heavy with jewels that they hang down to 1 The Rajavali, p. 279, describes tlie wouder of tlie Singhalese on wit- nessing for the first time the discharge of a cannon by the Portuguese who had landed at Colombo, a. d. 1517, " A ball shot from one of them, after flying some leagues, will break a castle of marble, or even of iron." - // Sommwio delle Inde Orientale di Odoaedo Baebosa, Lisbon, 1519. A sketch of the life of Bakbosa is given in Ceawftjed's Dictionary of the Indian Islands, p. 39. 3 Two letters wi-itten by Andeea CoESALi, a Florentine, dated from Cochin, A. D. 1515, and addressed to the Grand Duke Jidian de Medicis. Chap. IV.] CEYLOX AS KNOWN TO VENETIANS. 641 their shoulders ; of the upper parts of tlieir bodies ex- posed, but the lower portions enveloped in silks and rich cloths, secured by an embroidered girdle. He describes their lanQ-uao'e as a mixture of Arabic and Malabar, and states that numbers of then- co-rehgionists from the Indian coast resorted constantly to Ceylon, and estabhshed themselves there as traders, attracted by the dehghts of the climate, and the luxury and abundance of the island, but above all by the unhmited fi^eedom which they enjoyed under its government. The duration of hfe was longer in Ceylon than in any country of Incha. With a profusion of fruits of every kind, and of ani- mals fit for food, grain alone was deficient ; rice was largely imported from the Coromandel coast, and sugar fi^om Bengal. Di Conti and Barthema had ascertained the existence of cinnamon as a production of the island, but Barbosa was the first European who asserted its superiority over that of all other countries. Elephants captured by order of the King, were tamed, trained, and sold to the princes of India, whose agents arrived annually in quest of them. The pearls of Manaar and the gems of Adam's Peak were the principal riches of Ceylon. The cat's-eye, according to Barbosa, was as highly valued as the ruby by the dealers in India ; and the rubies themselves w^ere preferred to those of Pegu on ac- count of thcK density^ ; but, compared -with those of Ava, they were inferior in colour, a defect which the Moors were skilled in correcting by the apphcation of fire. The residence of the King was at " Colmucho" (Co- lombo), whither vessels coming for elephants, cinnamon. * Cesaee de Fkedeeici, a Vene- tian merchant, whose travels in India, a. d. 1563, have been trans- lated by HiCKOCKE, saj's of Zeilan, that, " they find there some rubies, but I have sold rubies well there that I brought with me from Pegu." — In Hakluyt, vol. i. p. 226. 642 MEDIAEVAL HISTOEY. [Part V. and gems brought fine cloths from Canibay, together with saffron, coral, quicksilver, vermihon, and specie, and above all silver, which was more in demand than all the rest. Such is the sum of intelhgence concerning Ceylon recorded by the Genoese and Venetians during the three centuries in which they were conversant with the commerce of India. Their interest in the island had been rendered paramount by the events of the first Crusades, but it was extinguished by the discovery of the passage round the Cape of Good Hope. In the period which intervened the word traveller may be said to have been synonymous with merchant^, and when the occupation of the latter was withdrawn, the adven- tures of the other were suspended. The vessels of the strangers, in a very few years after their first appear- ance in the Indian seas, began to divert from its accus- tomed channel, the stream of commerce which for so many ages had flowed in the direction of the Eed Sea and the Persian Gulf; and the galleons of Portugal superseded the caravans of Arabia and the argosies of Venice. ^ C^SAE Frederick opens the ac- couut of liis wanderings in India, A.D. 1563, as follows: — "Having- for the space of eighteen years continu- ally coasted and travelled in many countries beyond the Indies, ivhcrein I have had both (/ood and ill success in my travels,^^ &c. He may be re- garded as the last of the merchant voyagers of Venice. His book was translated into English almost simul- taneously with its appearance in Italian, under the title of " The Voyafjes and Traraile of 31. Ccpsar Fredrick, Merchant of Venice, into the East Indies, and beyond the Indies, written at sea, in the Hercules of London, the 2oth March, 1588, and translated out of Italian by Mr. Thomas Htckocke, Lond., 4to. 1588." The author, who left Venice in 1563, crossed over from Cape Comorin to ChilaW; to be present at the fishery of pearls, which he de- scribes almost as it is practised at the present time. The divers engaged in it were all Christians (see Christianity in Ceylon, eh. i. p. 11), imder the care of fi'iars of the order of St. Paul. Colombo was then a hold of the Portuguese, but without " walles or enemies; " and thence "to see how they gather the sinnamon, or take it from the tree that it groweth on (because the time that I was there, was the season that they gather it, in the nioneth of Aprill) I, to satisfie my desire, went into a wood three miles from the citie, although in great danger, the Portugals being in arms, and in the field with the king of the country." Here he gives with great accuracy the par- ticulars of the process of peeling cinnamon, as it is still practised by the Chalias. CiiAP. IV.] CEYLON AS KNOWN TO VENETIANS. 643 In his dismay the Sultan of Egypt threatened to demohsh the sacred remains of Jerusalem, should the infidels of Europe persist in annihilating the trade of the Desert. Stimulated by the Doge, he attacked the Portuguese merchantmen in the Indian seas, and de- stroyed a convoy off the coast of Cochin ; an outrage for which Albuquerque meditated a splendid revenge by an expedition to plunder Mecca and Medina, and to consum- mate the desolation of Egjq^t by diverting the Nile to the Eed Sea, across Nubia or Abyssinia ! ^ But the catastrophe was inevitable ; the rich freights of India and China w^ere carried round the " Cape of Storms," and no longer slowly borne on the Tigris and the Nile. The harbours of Ormus and of Bassora became deserted ; and on the shores of Asia Minor, where the commerce of Italy had intrenched itself in castles of almost feudal pretension, the rivalries of Genoa and Venice were extinguished in the same calamitous decay. ^ Daett, Hist, cle Venise, lib. xix. p. 114. Eaynal, Hist, des Deux Indes, vol. i. p. 156. Faeia t Soitza^ Portiiq. Asia, pt. i. cli. viii. vol. i. pp. 64, 83, 107, 137. END OP THE FIRST VOLUME. lONDOIf PEINTED BT SPOTTISWOODE AND CO. NKW-STKEET SQUAEB J #fu^ MMmk^- mm. ¥M 't^^-^, ■ ^U^ww'A VV V\^ • .' ^ ;' ■^■;■ i^B^M km^i^M WM\ '^w^yg^mi; iB^ &tet f ^ t^^ ^M^ ■^^^ :ow iuw; ^^p^^' WiJ:' ^^^.. j^Bng / ;- ' %, ^.WwwK^W