nut.1 PALLADIUS, a Greek of the lower empire, to whom is ascribed an account of the nations of India, written in the fifth century2, adverts to this peculiarity 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 Royal Mendicants," the "Third Calendar" as he is called in the old translation, relates to the ladies of Bagdad, in whose house he is entertained, how he and his companions lost their course, when sailing in the Indian Ocean, and found themselves 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.3 EDRISI, the Arab geographer, likewise alludes to it; but the invention belongs to an earlier age, and Palladius, in describing 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 be fastened with wooden instead of iron bolts.* 1 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 (Hakluyt, vol. ii. p.35); and the construction of ships without iron was not peculiar to the Indian seas, as Homer mentions that the boat built by Ulysses was put together with wooden pegs, youpourir, instead of bolts.-Odys. v. 249. 2 The tract alluded to is usually known as the treatise de Moribus LANE'S Arabian Nights, vol. i. ch. iii. n. 72, p. 242. 66 4 « Έστι δὲ ἰδικῶς τα διαπερῶντα πλοῖα εἰς ἐκείνην τὴν μεγάλην νήσον ἄνευ σιδηρου ἔπιουρίοις ξυλίνοις καταστ Revaoμiva."-PALLADIUS, in PseudoCallisthenes, lib. iii. c. vii. But the fable of the loadstone mountain is Another peculiarity of the native craft of the west coast of Ceylon is their construction with a prow at either extremity, a characteristic which belongs to the Massoula boats of Madras, as well as others on the south of India. It is a curious illustration of the abiding nature of local usages when originating in necessities and utility, 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.” 1 In connection with foreign trade the Mahawanso contains repeated allusions to ships wrecked upon the coast of Ceylon2, and amongst the remarkable events which signalised the season, 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 Rohuna, the incident 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, vestigia 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 communicated to the West from China. "Les anciens auteurs Chinois parlent aussi de montagnes magnetiques de la mer méridionale sur les côtes de Tonquin et de la Cochin Chine; et B.C. 543-Mahawanso, ch. vii. p. 49; B.C. 306.-Ibid. ch xi. p. 68, &c. 3 Mahawanso, ch. xxii. p. 135. 4 The first direct intimation of trading carried on by native Singhalese, along the coast of Ceylon, occurs in the Rajavali, but not till disent que si les vaisseaux the year A.D. 1410,-the king, who étrangers qui sont garnis de plaques had made Cotta his capital, being de fer s'en approchent ils y sont represented as 'loading a vessel arrêtés et aucun d'eux ne peut passer with goods and sending it to Jaffna, par ces endroits."-KLAPROTH, Lett. to carry on commerce with his son." v. p. 117, quoted by SANTAREM, Es--Rajavali, p. 289. and Arabians, and in which, as I have stated, the 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 carried Their cities exhibited rows of shops and bazaars1, and the country was traversed by caravans much in the same manner as the drivers of tavelams carry goods at the present day between the coast and the interior.2 on. Whatever merchandise was obtained in barter from foreign ships, was by this means conveyed to the cities and the capital3, and the reference to carts which were accustomed to go from Anarajapoora to the division of Malaya, lying round Adam's Peak, "to procure saffron and ginger," 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.4 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 shells; 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 1 B.C. 204, a visitor to Anarajapoora, is described as "purchasing aromatic drugs from the bazaars, and departing by the Northern Gate" (Mahawanso, ch. xxiii. p. 139) and A.D. 8, the, King Mahanago "ranged shops of each side of the streets of the capital."-Mahawanso, ch. xxxiv. p. 213. 2 B.C. 170. Mahawanso, 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 mountain (Mihintala), in whose possession there were rich articles, frankincense, sandal-wood, &c., imported from beyond the ocean. Mahawanso, ch. xxiii. p. 138. + Mahawanso, ch. xxviii. p. 167. 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 workmanship bestowed upon them. Devenipiatissa sent by his ambassadors 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 chank2, and three bamboos for chariot 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 paddy and sandal wood, and amongst the other items "a virgin of royal birth and of great personal beauty." 3 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, 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. xxx. p. 185. 2 A variety of the Turbinella 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 Mahawanso, ch. xi. p. 69, 70. 4 For an account of the earliest trade in cinnamon, see post, Part v. ch. ii., on the Knowledge of Ceylon possessed by the Arabians. slaves, chariots and horses were frequently transmitted from India. The riding horses and chargers, so often spoken of1, 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.2 Gold cloth frankincense and sandalwood were brought from India 1, as was also a species of "clay" and of "cloud coloured stone," which appear to have been used in the construction of dagobas.5 Silk and vermilion indicate the activity of trade with China; and woollen cloth and carpets with Persia and Kashmir. 8 9 Intercourse with Kashmir.- Possibly the woollen cloths referred to may have been shawls, and there is evidence in the Rajatarangini 10, 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. In the eighth century of the Christian era, Singhalese engineers were sent for to construct works in Kashmir12; and Kashmir, 1 Mahawanso, ch. xxii. p. 134, &c. &c. 2 Ibid., ch. xxiii. p. 142; ch. xxxi. p. 186. 3 A.D. 459. Mahawanso, ch xxxviii. p. 258. 4 Ibid., ch. xxiii. p. 138. 5 Ibid., ch. xxix. p. 169, ch. xxx. p. 179. Ibid., ch. xxiii. p. 139; Rajaratnacari, p. 49. 7 Ibid., ch. xxix. p. 169; Rajaratnacari, p. 51. 8 Mahawanso, ch. xxx. p. 177; Rajavali, p. 269. Woollen cloth is described as "most valuable," -an epithet which indicates its rarity, and probably foreign origin. 9 Mahawanso, ch. xiv. p. 82; ch. xv. p. 87; ch. xxv. p. 151; carpets of wool, ib. ch. xxvii. p. 164. 10 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. 11 Rajatarangini, b. i, sl. 294. |