Ceylon; an Account of the Island Physical, Historical, and Topographical with Notices of Its Natural History Part 83

implies that at that period (B.C. 165) roads and other facilities for wheel carriages must have existed, enabling them to traverse forests and cross the rivers.[2]

[Footnote 1: 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 mountain (Mihintala), in whose possession there were rich articles, frankincense, sandal-wood, &c., imported from beyond the ocean.--_Mahawanso_ ch. xxiii. p. 138.]

[Footnote 2: _Mahawanso_ ch. xxviii. p, 167.]

_Early Exports of Ceylon._--The native historians give an account of the exports of Ceylon, which corresponds in all particulars with the records left by the early travellers and merchants, Greek, Roman, Arabian, Indian, and Chinese. They consisted entirely of natural productions, aromatic drugs, gems, pearls, and sh.e.l.ls; and it is a strong evidence of the more advanced state of civilisation in India at the same period that, whilst the presents sent from the kings of Ceylon to the native princes of Hindustan and the Dekkan were always of this precious but primitive character, the articles received in return were less remarkable for the intrinsic value of the material, than for the workmans.h.i.+p bestowed upon them. Devenipiatissa sent by his amba.s.sadors to Asoca, B.C. 306, the eight varieties of pearls, viz., _haya_ (the horse), _gaja_ (the elephant), _ratha_ (the chariot wheel), _maalaka_ (the nelli fruit), _valaya_ (the bracelet), _anguliwelahka_ (the ring), _kakudaphala_ (the kabook fruit), and _pakatika_, the ordinary description. He sent sapphires, lapis lazuli[1], and rubies, a right hand chank[2], and three bamboos for chariot poles, remarkable because their natural marking resembled the carvings of flowers and animals.

[Footnote 1: Lapis lazuli is not found in Ceylon, and must have been brought by the caravans from Budakshan. It is more than once mentioned in the _Mahawanso_, ch. xi. p. 69; ch. x.x.x. p. 185.]

[Footnote 2: A variety of the _Turbinella rapa_ with the whorls reversed, to which the natives attach a superst.i.tions value; professing that a sh.e.l.l so formed is worth its weight in gold.]

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 pa.s.sed 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."[1]

[Footnote 1: _Mahawanso_ ch, xi. pp. 69, 70.]

_Early Imports_.--Down to a very late period, gems, pearls, and chank sh.e.l.ls 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.[1] In return for these exports, slaves, chariots, and horses were frequently transmitted from India. The riding horses and chargers, so often spoken of[2], 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 four purely white were harnessed to the state carriage of Dutugaimunu.[3] Gold cloth[4], frankincense, and sandal-wood were brought from India[5], as was also a species of "clay" and of "cloud-coloured stone," which appear to have been used in the construction of dagobas.[6] Silk[7] and vermilion[8] indicate the activity of trade with China; and woollen cloth[9] and carpets[10] with Persia and Kashmir.

[Footnote 1: For an account of the earliest trade in cinnamon, see _post_ Part v. ch. ii. on the Knowledge of Ceylon possessed by the Arabians.]

[Footnote 2: _Mahawanso_, ch. xxii. p. 134, &c. &c.]

[Footnote 3: _Ibid_., ch. xxiii. p. 142; ch. x.x.xi. p. 186.]

[Footnote 4: A.D.459. _Mahawanso_, ch. x.x.xviii. p. 258.]

[Footnote 5: _Ibid_, ch. xxiii. p. 138.]

[Footnote 6: _Ibid_, ch. xxix. p. 169; ch. x.x.x. p. 179.]

[Footnote 7: _Ibid_., ch. xxiii. p. 139; _Rajaratnacari_, p. 49.]

[Footnote 8: _Ibid_, ch. xxix. p. 169; _Rajaratnacari_ p. 51.]

[Footnote 9: _Mahawanso_, ch. x.x.x. p. 177; _Rajavali_, p. 269. Woollen cloth is described as "most valuable"--an epithet which indicates its rarity, and probably foreign origin.]

[Footnote 10: _Mahawanso_, ch. xiv. p. 82; ch. xv. p. 87; ch. xxv. p.

151; carpets of wool, _ib_. ch. xxvii. p. 164.]

_Intercourse with Kashmir._--Possibly the woollen cloths referred to may have been shawls, and there is evidence in the _Rajatarangini_[1], that at a very early period the possession of a common religion led to an intercourse between Ceylon and Kashmir, originating in the sympathies of Buddhism, but perpetuated by the Kashmirians for the pursuit of commerce. In the fabulous period of the narrative, a king of Kashmir is said to have sent to Ceylon for a delicately fine cloth, embroidered with golden footsteps.[2] In the eighth century of the Christian era, Singhalese engineers were sent for to construct works in Kashmir[3]; and Kashmir, according to Troyer, took part in the trade between Ceylon and the West.[4]

[Footnote 1: The _Rajatarangini_ resembles the _Mahawanso_, in being a metrical chronicle of Kashmir written at various times by a series of authors, the earliest of whom lived in the 12th century. It has been translated into French by M. Troyer, Paris, 1840.]

[Footnote 2: _Rajatarangini_, b. i. sl. 294.]

[Footnote 3: _Rajatarangini_, b. iv. sl. 502, &c.]

[Footnote 4: "La communication entre Kachmir et Ceylan n'a pas eu lieu seulement par les entreprises guerrieres que je viens de rappeler, mais aussi par un commerce paisible; c'est du cette ile que venaient des artistes qu'on appelait Rakchasas a cause du merveilleux de leur art; et qui executaient des ouvrages pour l'utilite et pour l'ornement d'un pays montagneux et sujet aux inondations. Ceci confirme ce que nous apprennent les geographes Grecs, que Ceylan, avant et apres le commencement de notre ere, etait un grand point de reunion pour le commerce de l'Orient et de l'Occident."--_Rajatarangini_, vol. ii. p.

434.]

Of the trade between Ceylon and Kashmir and its progress, the account given by Edrisi, the most renowned of the writers on eastern geography, who wrote in the twelfth century[1], is interesting, inasmuch as it may be regarded as a picture of this remarkable commerce, after it had attained its highest development.

[Footnote 1: Abou-abd-allah Mahommed was a Moor of the family who reigned over Malaga after the fall of the Kalifat of Cordova, in the early part of the 11th century, and his patronymic of Edrisi or Al Edrissy implies that he was descended from the princes of that race who had previously held supreme power in what is at the present day the Empire of Morocco. He took up his residence in Sicily under the patronage of the Norman king, Roger II., A.D. 1154, and the work on geography which he there composed was not only based on the previous labours of Ma.s.soudi, Ibn Haukul, Albyrouni, and others, but it embodied the reports of persons commissioned specially by the king to undertake voyages for the purpose of bringing back correct accounts of foreign countries. See REINAUD'S _Introduction to the Geography of Abulfeda_, p.

cxiii.]

Edrisi did not write from personal knowledge, as he had never visited either Ceylon or India; but compiling as he did, by command of Roger H., of Sicily, a compendium, of geographical knowledge as it existed in his time, the information which he has systematised may be regarded as a condensation of such facts as the eastern seamen 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 the valleys they find those diamonds by means of which they engrave the setting of stones on rings."

"The same mountains produce aromatic drugs perfumes, and aloes-wood, and there too they find the animal, the civet, which yields musk. The islanders cultivate rice, coco-nuts, and sugar-cane; in the rivers is found rock crystal, remarkable both for brilliancy and size, and the sea on every side has a fishery of magnificent and priceless pearls.

Throughout India there is no prince whose wealth can compare with the King of Serendib, his immense riches, his pearls and his jewels, being the produce of his own dominions and seas; and thither s.h.i.+ps 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 drinks wine and prohibits debauchery; whilst other princes of India encourage debauchery and prohibit the use of wine. The exports from Serendib consist of silk, precious stones, crystals, diamonds, and perfumes."[1]

[Footnote 1: Edrisi, _Geographie_, Trad. JAUBERT, tom. i. p. 73.]

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_[1] but never with any suggestion of its being a native product of Ceylon.

[Footnote 1: Silk is mentioned 20 B.C. _Rajaratnacari_, p. 49.

_Mahawanso_, ch. xxiii. p. 139.]

_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 Ceylon[1]; 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, affords extensive employment to the inhabitants of the south and south-western coasts. Ibn Batuta describes the use of coir, for sewing together the planking of boats, as it was practised at Zafar in the fourteenth century[2]; and the word itself bespeaks its Arabian origin, as ALBYROUNI, who divides the Maldives and Laccadives into two cla.s.ses, calls the one group the _Dyvah-kouzah_, or islands that produce _cowries_; and the other the _Dyvah-kanbar_, or islands that produce _coir_.[3]

[Footnote 1: EDRISI, t. i. p. 74.]

[Footnote 2: _Voyages_, &c., vol. ii. p. 207. Paris, 1854.]

[Footnote 3: ALBYROUNI, in REYNAUD, _Fragm. Arabes, &c.,_ pp, 93, 124 The Portuguese adopted the word from the Hindus, and CASTANEDA, in _Hist. of the Discovery of India,_ describes the Moors of Sofalah sewing their boats with "_cayro"_ ch. v, 14, x.x.x. 75.]

_Dress_.--The dress of the people was of the simplest kind, and similar to that which is worn at the present day. The bulk of the population wore scanty cloths, without shape or seam, folded closely round the body and the portion of the limbs which it is customary to cover; and the Chinese, who visited the island in the seventh century, described the people as clothed in the loose robe, still known as a "comboy," a word probably derived from the Chinese _koo-pei_, which signifies cotton.[1]

[Footnote 1: See Part v. ch. iii. on the Knowledge of Ceylon possessed by the Chinese.]

The wealthier cla.s.ses indulged in flowing 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 seeking objects for his compa.s.sion, to appear as a common person, simply "disguising himself by gathering his cloth up between his legs."[1] Robes with flowers[2], and a turban of silk, const.i.tuted the dress of state bestowed on men whom the king delighted to honour.[3] Cloth of gold is spoken of in the fifth century, but the allusion is probably made to the kinbaub of India.[4]

[Footnote 1: _Mahawanso,_ ch. x.x.xvii. p.245.]

[Footnote 2: By the ordinances of Buddhism it was forbidden to the priesthood "to adorn the body with flowers," thus showing it to have been a practice of the laity. HARDY'S _Eastern Monachism_, ch. iv. p.24; ch. xiii p.128.]

[Footnote 3: _Mahawanso_, ch. xxiii. p.139.]

[Footnote 4: _Ibid._, ch. x.x.xviii. p.258.]

MANUAL AND MECHANICAL ARTS. _Weaving_.--The aborigines practised the art of weaving before the arrival of Wijayo. Kuweni, when the adventurer approached her, was "seated at the foot of a tree, spinning thread;"[1]