Ancient Ceylon: An Account of the Aborigines and of Part of the Early Civilisation (Classic Reprint)

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Fb&c Limited, Feb 3, 2018 - Social Science - 762 pages
Excerpt from Ancient Ceylon: An Account of the Aborigines and of Part of the Early Civilisation

During this period, however, little new information regard ing it has been published in England otherwise than in the Journals of various Societies, with the exception of some excellent studies of its natural history a work by Professor Rhys Davids on the Ancient Coins and Measures and two books prepared for the Government, one by Mr. Smither, the former Government Architect, containing an architectural description of the dagabas at Anuradhapura, and the other, by Dr. Edward Muller, giving a first account of the ancient inscriptions.

Evidently the time has arrived when part of the other recently obtained knowledge of the country should be pre sented to the world. My employment in the Irrigation Depart ment from the middle of 1873 to the end of 1904 having given me opportunities of acquiring some information of the interior of the island, I have therefore prepared the present work, which describes some phases of the early civilisation, beginning with the history, life, and religion of the aborigines, and ending, as regards local matters, with the village games. Although the subjects included in it are dealt with in a disconnected manner, it will be seen that they advance from the primitive stages to more recent times.

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