[Footnote 3: May it not have an Egyptian origin "Siela-Keh," the _land_
of _Siela_?]
[Footnote 4: The description of Taprobane given by Ptolemy proves that
the island had been thoroughly circumnavigated and examined by the
mariners who were his informants. Not having penetrated the interior to
any extent, their reports relative to it are confined to the names of
the principal tribes inhabiting the several divisions and provinces, and
the position of the metropolis and seat of government. But respecting
the coast, their notes were evidently minute 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
seaborde in consecutive order; beginning at the northern extremity,
proceeding southward down the western coast, and returning along the
east to Point Pedro. Although the majority of the names which he
supplies are no longer susceptible of identification on the modern map,
some of them can be traced without difficulty--thus his _Ganges_ is
still the Mahawelli-ganga; his _Maagrammum_ would appear, on a first
glance, to be Mahagam, but as he calls it the "metropolis," and places
it beside the great river, it is evidently Bintenne, whose ancient name
was "Maha-yangana" or "Ma-ha-welli-gam." His _Anurogrammum_, which he
calls [Greek: Basileion], "the royal residence," is obviously
Anarajapoora, the city founded by Anuradha five hundred years before
Ptolemy was born (_Mahawanso_, ch. vii. p. 50, x. 65, &c.). It may have
borne in his time the secondary rank of a village or a town (_gam_ or
_gramma_), and afterwards acquired the higher epithet of
Anuradha-_porra_, the "city" of Anuradha, after it had grown to the
dimensions of a capital. The province of the _Modutti_ in Ptolemy's list
has a close resemblance in name, though not in position, to Mantotte;
the people of Rayagam Corle still occupy the country assigned by him to
the _Rhogandani_--his _Naga dibii_ are identical with the Nagadiva of
the _Mahawanso_; 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
"Baixos," _sunken rocks_. It is curious that the position in which he
has placed the elephant plains or feeding grounds, [Greek: elephantôn
nomoi], to the south-east of Adam's Peak, is the portion of the island
about Matura, where, down to a very recent period, the Portuguese, the
Dutch, and the English successively held their annual battues, not only
for the supply of the government studs, but for export to India. Making
due allowance for the false dimensions of the island assumed by Ptolemy,
but taking his account of the relative positions of the headlands,
rivers, harbours, and cities, the accompanying map affords a proximate
idea of his views of Taprobane and its localities as propounded in his
Geography.
* * * * *
_Post-scriptum._ Since the above was written, and the map it refers to
was returned to me from the engraver, I have discovered that a similar
attempt to identify the ancient names of Ptolemy with those now attached
to the supposed localities, was made by Gosselin; and a chart so
constructed will be found (No. xiv.) appended to his _Recherches sur la
Géographie des Anciens_, t. iii. p. 303. I have been gratified to find
that in the more important points we agree; but in many of the minor
ones, the want of personal knowledge of the island involved Gosselin in
errors which the map I have prepared will, I hope, serve to
rectify.--J.E.T.]
[Illustration:
TAPROBANE OR SALIKE,
_(CEYLON)
according to_
Ptolemy and Pliny.
_N.B. The modern Names are given in Italics.
By
Sir J. Emerson Tennent._]
The extent and accuracy of Ptolemy's information is so surprising, that
it has given rise to surmises as to the sources whence it could possibly
have been derived.[1] But the conjecture that he was indebted to ancient
Phoenician or Tyrian authorities whom he has failed to acknowledge, is
sufficiently met by the consideration that these were equally accessible
to his predecessors. The abundance of his materials, especially those
relating to the sea-borde of India and Ceylon, is sufficient to show
that he was mainly indebted for his facts to the adventurous merchants
of Egypt and Arabia, and to works which, like the _Periplus of the
Erythroean Sea_ (erroneously ascribed to ARRIAN the historian, but
written by a merchant probably of the same name), were drawn up by
practical navigators to serve as sailing directions for seamen resorting
to the Indian Ocean.[2]
[Footnote 1: HEEREN, _Hist. Researches_, vol. ii. Appendix xii.]
[Footnote 2: LASSEN, _De Taprob. Ins._ p. 4. From the error of Ptolemy
in making the coast of Malabar extend from west to east, whilst its true
position is laid down in the _Periplus_, VINCENT concludes that he was
not acquainted with the _Periplus_, as, anterior to the invention of
printing, cotemporaries might readily be ignorant of the productions of
each other (VINCENT, vol. ii. p. 55). Vincent assigns the composition of
the _Periplus_ to the reign of Claudius or Nero, and Dodwell to that of
M. Aurelius, but Letronne more judiciously ascribes it to the period of
Severus and Caracalla, A.D. 198,210, fifty years later than Ptolemy. The
author, a Greek of Alexandria and a merchant, never visited Ceylon,
though he had been as far south as Nelkynda (the modern Neliseram), and
the account which he gives from report of the island is meagre, and in
some respects erroneous. ARRIANI _Periplus Maris Eryth.;_ HUDSON, vol.
i. p. 35; VINCENT, vol. ii. p. 493.]
So ample was the description of Ceylon afforded by Ptolemy, that for a
very long period his successors, AGATHEMERUS, MARCIANUS of Heraclea, and
other geographers, were severally contented to use the facts originally
collected by him.[1] And it was not till the reign of Justinian, in the
sixth century, that COSMAS INDICO-PLEUSTES, by publishing the narrative
of Sopater, added very considerably to the previous knowledge of the
island.
[Footnote 1: AGATHEMERUS, _Hudson Geog._, l. ii. c. 7,8.; MARCIANUS
HERACLEOTA, _Periplus, Hudson,_ p. 26. STEPHANUS BYZANTINUS, _in verbo_
"Taprobane." Instead of the expression of PTOLEMY that Taprobane [Greek:
ekaleito palai Simoundon], which MARCIANUS had rendered [Greek:
Palaisimioundou], STEPHANUS transposes the words as if to guard against
error, [Greek: palai men ekaleito Simoundou], &c. The prior authority
of PTOLEMY, however, serves to prolong the mystery, as he calls the
capital Palæsimundum.]
As Cosmos is the last Greek writer who treats of Taprobane[1], it may be
interesting, before passing to his account of the island, to advert to
what has been recorded by the Singhalese chroniclers themselves, as to
its actual condition at the period when Cosmas described it, and thus to
verify his narrative by the test of historical evidence. It has been
shown in another chapter that between the first and the sixth centuries,
Ceylon had undergone all the miseries of frequent invasions: that in the
vicissitudes of time the great dynasty of Wijayo had expired, and the
throne had fallen into the hands of an effeminate and powerless race,
utterly unable to contend with the energetic Malabars, who acquired an
established footing in the northern parts of the island. The south, too
wild and uncultivated to attract these restless plunderers, and too
rugged and inaccessible to be overrun by them, was divided into a number
of petty principalities, whose kings did homage to the paramount
sovereign north of the Mahawelli-ganga. Buddhism was the national
religion, but toleration was shown to all others,--to the worship of the
Brahmans as well as to the barbarous superstition of the aboriginal
tribes. At the same time, the productive wealth of the island had been
developed to an extraordinary extent by the care of successive kings,
and by innumerable works for irrigation and agriculture provided by
their policy. Anarajapoora, the capital, had expanded into extraordinary
dimensions, it was adorned with buildings and monuments, surpassing in
magnitude those of any city in India, and had already attracted pilgrims
and travellers from China and the uttermost countries of the East.
[Footnote 1: There is another curious work which, notwithstanding
certain doubts as to its authorship, contains internal evidence
entitling it, in point of time, to take precedence of COSMAS. This is
the tract "_De Moribus Brachmanorum_", ascribed to St. Ambrose, and
which under the title [Greek: "Peri tôn têz Indiaz kai tôn Brachmanôn"]
has been also attributed to Palladius, but in all probability it was
actually the composition of neither. Early in the fifth century
Palladius was Bishop of Helenopolis, in Bithynia, and died about A.D.
410. He spent a part of his life in Coptic monasteries, and it is
possible that during his sojourn in Egypt, meeting travellers and
merchants returning from India, he may have caused this narrative to be
taken down from the dictation of one of them. Cave hesitates to believe
that it was written by PALLADIUS, "haud facile credem," &c. (_Script.
Eccles. Hist. Lit._); and the learned Benedictine editors of AMBROSE
have excluded it from the works of the latter. They could scarcely have
done otherwise when the first chapter of the Latin version opens with
the declaration that it was drawn up by its author at the request of
"PALLADIUS." "Desiderium mentis tuæ Palladi opus efficere nos
compellit," &c. Neither of the two versions can be accepted as a
translation of the other, but the discrepancies are not inconsistent,
and would countenance the conjecture that the book is the production of
one and the same person. Much of the material is borrowed from PTOLEMY
and PLINY but the facts which are new could only have been collected by
persons who had visited the scenes they describe. The compiler says he
had learned from a certain scholar of Thebes that the inhabitants of
Ceylon were called _Macrobii_, because, owing to the salubrity of the
climate, the average duration of life was 150 years. The petty kings of
the country acknowledged one paramount sovereign to whom they were
subject as satraps; this the Theban was told by others, as he himself
not allowed to visit the interior. A thousand other islands lie adjacent
to Ceylon, and in a group of these which he calls Maniolæ (probably the
Attols of the Maldives,) is found the loadstone, which attracts iron, so
that a vessel coming within its influence, is seized and forcibly
detained, and for this reason the ships which navigate these seas are
fastened with pegs of wood instead of bolts of iron.
Ceylon, according to this traveller, has five large and navigable
rivers, it rejoices in one perennial harvest, and the flowers and the
ripe fruit hang together on the same branch. There are palm trees; both
those that bear the great Indian nut, and the smaller aromatic one (the
areka). The natives subsist on milk, rice, and fruit. The sheep produce
no wool, but have long and silky hair, and linen being unknown, the
inhabitants clothe themselves in skins, which are far from inelegantly
worked.
Finding some Indian merchants there who had come in a small vessel to
trade, the Theban attempted to go into the interior, and succeeded in
getting sight of a tribe whom he calls Besadæ or Vesadæ, his description
of whom is in singular conformity with the actual condition of the
Veddahs in Ceylon at the present day. "They are," he says, "a feeble and
diminutive race, dwelling in caves under the rocks, and early accustomed
to ascend precipices, with which their country abounds, in order to
gather pepper from the climbing plants. They are of low stature, with
large heads and shaggy uncut hair."
The Theban proceeds to relate that being arrested by one of the chiefs,
on the charge of having entered his territory without permission, he was
forcibly detained there for six years, subsisting on a measure of food,
issued to him daily by the royal authority. This again presents a
curious coincidence with the detention and treatment of Knox and other
captives by the kings of Kandy in modern times. He was at last released
owing to the breaking out of hostilities between the chief who held him
prisoner and another prince, who accused the former before the supreme
sovereign of having unlawfully detained a Roman citizen, after which he
was set at liberty, out of respect to the Roman name and authority.
This curious tract was first published by CAMERABIUS, but in 1665 Sir
EDWARD BISSE, Baronet, and Clarenceux King-at-Arms, reproduced the Greek
original, supposing it to be an unpublished manuscript, with a Latin
translation. It is incorporated in one of the MSS. of the
_Pseudo-Callisthenes_ recently edited by MÜLLER, lib. iii. ch. vii.
viii.; DIDOT. _Script Groec. Bib_., vol. xxvi. Paris, 1846.]
With the increasing commercial intercourse between the West and the
East, Ceylon, from its central position, half way between Arabia and
China, had during the same period risen into signal importance as a
great emporium for foreign trade. The transfer of the seat of empire
from Rome to Constantinople served to revive the over-land traffic with
India; and the Persians for the first time[1] vied with the Arabs and
the merchants of Egypt, and sought to divert the Oriental trade from the
Red Sea and Alexandria to the Euphrates and the Tigris.
[Footnote 1: GIBBON, ch. xl.; ROBERTSON'S _India_, b.i.]
Already, between the first and fifth centuries, the course of that trade
had undergone a considerable change. In its infancy, and so long as the
navigation was confined to coasting adventures, the fleets of the
Ptolemies sailed no further than to the ports of Arabia Felx[1], where
they were met by Arabian vessels returning from the west coast of India,
bringing thence the productions of China, shipped at the emporiums of
Malabar. After the discovery of the monsoons, and the accomplishment of
bolder voyages, the great entrepôt of commerce was removed farther
south; first, from Muziris, the modern Mangalore, to Nelkynda, now
Neliseram, and afterwards to Calicut and Coulam, or Quilon. In like
manner the Chinese, who, whilst the navigation of the Arabs and Persians
was in its infancy, had extended their voyages not only to Malabar but
to the Persian Gulf, gradually contracted them as their correspondents
ventured further south. HAMZA says, that in the fifth century the
Euphrates was navigable as high as Hira, within a few miles of
Babylon[2]; and MASSOUDI, in his _Meadows of Gold_, states that at that
time the Chinese ships ascended the river and anchored in front of the
houses there.[3] At a later period, their utmost limit was Syraf, in
Farsistan[4]; they afterwards halted first at Muziris, next at
Calicut[5], then at Coulam, now Quilon[6]; and eventually, in the fourth
and fifth centuries, the Chinese vessels appear rarely to have sailed
further west than Ceylon. Thither they came with their silks and other
commodities, those destined for Europe being chiefly paid for in
silver[7], and those intended for barter in India were trans-shipped
into smaller craft, adapted to the Indian seas, by which they were
distributed at the various ports east and west of Cape Comorin.[8]
[Footnote 1: Aden was a Roman emporium; [Greek: Rhomaikon emporion
Adanên].--PHILOSTORGIUS, p. 28.]
[Footnote 2: HAZMA ISPAHANENSIS, p. 102; REINAUD, _Relation, &c._, vol.
i. p. 35.]
[Footnote 3: MASSOUDI, _Meadows of Gold_, Transl. of SPRENGER, vol. i.
p. 246.]
[Footnote 4: ABOU-ZEYD, vol. i. p, 14; REINAUD _Discours_, pp. 44, 78.]
[Footnote 5: DULAURIER, _Journ. Asiat._, vol. xiix, p. 141; VINCENT,
vol. ii, pp. 464,507.]
[Footnote 6: ABOU-ZEYD, p. 15; REINAUD, _Mém. sur l'Inde_, p. 201.]
[Footnote 7: PLINY, lib. vi. ch. xxvi.; _Periplus Mar. Erythr_.]
[Footnote 8: ROBERTSON, _Au Ind._, sec. ii. Periplus of the Erythrean
Sea describes these Ceylon crafts as rigged vessels, [Greek:
histiopepoiêmenois nêusi].]
COSMAS was a merchant of Egypt in the reign of Justinian, who, from the
extent of his travels, acquired the title of "Indico-pleustes." Retiring
to the cloister, he devoted the remnant of his life to the preparation
of a work in defence of the cosmography of the Pentateuch from the
errors of the Ptolemaic astronomy.[1] He died in the year 550, before
his task was completed, and one of the last portions on which he was
employed was an account of Taprobane, taken down from the reports of
Sopater, a Greek trader whom he had met at Adule in Ethiopia, when on
his return from Ceylon.
[Footnote 1: [Greek: Christianikê Topographia], sive _Christianorum
Opinio de Mundo_. This curious book has been printed entire by
Montfaucon from a MS. in the Vatican Coll. Patr., vol. ii. p. 333.
Paris, 1706 A.D. There is only one other MS. known, which was in
Florence; and from it THEVENOT had previously extracted and published
the portion relating to India in his _Relation des Dic. Voy_., vol. i.
Paris, 1576 A.D.]
Sopater, in the course of business as a merchant, sailed from Adule in
the same ship with a Persian bound for Ceylon, and on his arrival he and
his fellow-traveller were presented by the officers of the port to the
king, who was probably Kumara Das, the friend and patron of the poet
Kalidas.[1] The king received them with courtesy, and Cosmas recounts
how in the course of the interview Sopater succeeded in convincing the
Singhalese monarch of the greater power of Rome as compared with that of
Persia, by exhibiting the large and highly finished gold coin of the
Roman Emperor in contrast with the small and inelegant silver money of
the Shah. This story would, however, appear to be traditional, as Pliny
relates a somewhat similar anecdote of the ambassadors from Ceylon in
the reign of Claudius, and of the profound respect excited in their
minds by the sight of the Roman denarii.
[Footnote 1: Cosmas wrote between A.D. 545 and 550; and the voyage of
Sopater to Ceylon had been made thirty years before. Kumaara Das reigned
from A.D. 515 to A.D. 524. Vincent has noted the fact that in his
interview with the Greek he addressed him by the epithet of Roomi,
"[Greek: su Rômeu]," which is the term that has been applied from time
immemorial in India to the powers who have been successively in
possession of Constantinople, whether Roman, Christian, or Mahommedan.
Vol. ii. p. 511, &c.]
As Sopater was the first traveller who described Ceylon from personal
knowledge, I shall give his account of the island in the words of
Cosmas, which have not before been presented in an English translation.
"It is," he says, "a great island of the ocean lying in the Indian Sea,
called Sielendib by the Indians, but Taprobane by the Greeks. The stone,
the hyacinth, is found in it; it lies beyond the pepper country.[1]
Around it there are a multitude of exceedingly small islets[2], all
containing fresh water and coco-nut palms[3]; these (islands) lie as
close as possible together. The great island itself, according to the
accounts of its inhabitants, is 300 _gaudia_[4], or 900 miles long, and
as many in breadth. There are two kings ruling at opposite ends of the
island[5], one of whom possesses the hyacinth[6], and the other the
district, in which are the port and emporium[7], for the emporium in
that place is the greatest in those parts."
[Footnote 1: Malabar or Narghyl Arabia.]
[Footnote 2: The Maldive Islands.]
[Footnote 3: [Greek: Argellia] pro [Greek: nargellia], from _narikela_,
the Sanskrit, and _narghyl_, Arab, for the "coco-nut palm." GILDEMESTER,
_Script. Arab_. p. 36.]
[Footnote 4: "[Greek: Gaudia."] It is very remarkable that this singular
word _gaou_, in which Cosmas gives the dimensions of the island, is in
use to the present day in Ceylon, and means the distance which a man can
walk in an hour. VINCENT, in his _Commerce and Navigation of the
Ancients_, has noticed this passage (vol. ii, p. 506), and sayt,
somewhat loosely, that the Singhalese _gaou_, which he spells "_ghadia_"
is the same as the _naligiae_ of the Tamils, and equal to three-eighths
of a French league, or nearly one mile and a quarter English. This is
incorrect; a _gaou_ in Ceylon expresses a somewhat indeterminate length,
according to the nature of the ground to be traversed, a gaou across a
mountainous country being less than one measured on level ground, and a
gaou for a loaded cooley is also permitted to be shorter than for one
unburthened, but on the whole the average may be taken _under four
miles_. This is worth remarking, because it brings the statement made to
Sopater by the Singhalese in the sixth century into consistency with the
representations of the ambassadors to the Emperor Claudius in the first,
although both prove to be erroneous. It is curious that FA HIAN, the
Chinese traveller, whose zeal for Buddhism led him to visit India and
Ceylon a century and a half before Cosmas, gives an area to the island
which approaches very nearly to correctness; although he reverses the
direction in which its length exceeds its breadth. _Fo[)e]-kou[)e]-ki_,
c. xxxvii. p. 328.]
[Footnote 5: [Greek: "Enantioiallêlôn"]. This may also mean "at war with
one another."]
[Footnote 6: This has been translated so as to mean the portion of the
island producing hyacinth stones ("la partie de l'isle où se trouvent
les jacinthes." THEVENOT). But besides that I know of no Greek form of
expression that admits of such expansion; this construction, if
accepted, would be inconsistent with fact--for the king alluded to held
the north of the island, whereas the region producing gems is the south,
and in it were also the "emporium," and the harbour frequented by
shipping and merchants. I am disposed therefore to accept the term in
its simple sense, and to believe that it refers to one particular jewel,
for the possession of which the king of Ceylon enjoyed an enviable
renown. Cosmas, in the succeeding sentence, describes this wonderful gem
as being deposited in a temple near the capital; and Hiouen Thsang, the
Chinese pilgrim, says that in the seventh century, a ruby was elevated
on a spire surmounting a temple at Anarajapoora "dont l'éclat magnifique
illumine tout le ciel."--_Vie de Hiouen Thsang_, lib. iv. p. 199;
_Voyages des Pélerins Bouddhistes_, lib. xi. v. ii. p. 141. MARCO POLO,
in the thirteenth, century, says the "king of Ceylon is reputed to have
the grandest ruby that was ever seen, a span in length, the thickness of
a man's arm; brilliant beyond description, and without a single flaw. It
has the appearance of a glowing fire, and its worth cannot be estimated
in money. The Grand Khan Kublai sent ambassadors to this monarch to
offer for it the value of a city, but he would not part with it for all
the treasures of the world, as it was a jewel _handed down by his
ancestors on the throne_."--_Trans_. MARSDEN, 4to. 1818. It is most
probable that the stone described by Marco Polo was not a ruby, but an
amethyst, which is found in large crystals in Ceylon, and which modern
mineralogists believe to be the "hyacinth" of the ancients. (DANA'S
_Mineralogy_, vol. ii. p. 196.) CORSALI says it was a carbuncle
(Ramusio, vol. i. p. 180); and JORDAN DE SEVERAC, about the year 1323,
repeats the story of its being a ruby so large that it could not be
grasped in the closed hand. (_Recueil de Voy_., Soc. Geog. Paris. vol.
iv. p. 50.) If this resplendent object really exhibited the dimensions
assigned to it, the probability is that it was not a gem at all, but one
of those counterfeits of glass, in producing which STRABO relates that
the artists of Alexandria attained the highest possible perfection (1.
xvi. c. 2. sec. 25). Its luminosity by night is of course a fiction,
unless, indeed, like the emerald pillar in the temple of Hercules at
Tyre, which HERODOTUS describes as "shining brightly by night," it was a
hollow cylinder into which a lamp could be introduced. _Herod_, ii. 44.
Of the ultimate history of this renowned jewel we have no authentic
narrative; but it is stated in the Chinese accounts of Ceylon that early
in the fourteenth century an officer was sent by the emperor to purchase
a "carbuncle" of unusual lustre. "This served as the ball on the
emperor's cap, and was transmitted to succeeding emperors on their
accession as a precious heirloom, and worn on the birthday and at the
grand courts held on the first day of the year. It was upwards of an
ounce in weight, and cost 100,000 strings of cash. Every time a grand
levee was held during the darkness of the night, the red lustre filled
the palace, and it was for this reason designated 'The Red
Palace-Illuminator.'"--_Tsih-ke_, or _Miscellaneous Record_, quoted in
the _Kih che-king-yuen, Mirror of Science_, b. xxxiii. p. 1, 2.]
[Footnote 7: The port and harbour of Point de Galle.]
"The island has also a community of Christians[1], chiefly resident
Persians, with a presbyter ordained in Persia, a deacon, and a complete
ecclesiastical ritual.[2]
[Footnote 1: Nestorians, whose "Catholicos" resided first at Ctesiphon,
and afterwards at Mosul. VINCENT, _Periplus_, &c., vol. ii, p. 507. For
an examination of the hypotheses based on this statement of Cosmas, see
Sir J. EMERSON TENNENT'S _History of Christianity in Ceylon_, ch. i.]
[Footnote 2: [Greek: "Leitourgiat,"] literally _liturgy_; which meant
originally the pomp and ceremonial of worship as well as the form of
prayer.]
"The natives and their kings are of different races.[1] The temples are
numerous, and in one in particular, situated on an eminence[2], is the
great hyacinth, as large as a pine-cone, the colour of fire, and
flashing from a distance, especially when catching the beams of the
sun--a matchless sight.
[Footnote 1: [Greek: Allophuloi].]
[Footnote 2: Probably that at Mihintala, the sacred hill near
Anarajapoora.]
"As its position is central, the island is the resort of ships from all
parts of India, Persia, and Ethiopia, and, in like manner, many are
despatched from it. From the inner[1] countries; I mean China, and other
emporiums, it receives silk[2], aloes, cloves, clove-wood,
_chandana_[3], and whatever else they produce. These it again transmits
to the outer ports[4],--I mean to Male[5], whence the pepper comes; to
Calliana[6], where there is brass and sesamine-wood, and materials for
dress (for it is also a place of great trade), and to Sindon[7], where
they get musk, castor, and _androstachum_[8], to Persia, the Homeritic
coasts[9], and Adule. Receiving in return the exports of those
emporiums, Taprobane exchanges them in the inner ports (to the east of
Cape Comorin) sending her own produce along with them to each.
[Footnote 1: [Greek: "tôn endoterôn,"] the countries inside (that is to
the east) of Cape Comorin, as distinguished from the outer ports
([Greek: ta exôtera]) mentioned below, which lie west of it.]
[Footnote 2: [Greek: "metaxin."] Of this foreign word, applied by the
mediæval Greeks to silk in general, as well as to raw silk, PROCOPIUS
says:--[Greek: "Ahutê de estin hê metaxa, ex hês eiothasi tên esthêta
ergazesthai, hên palai men Hellênes mêdikên, tanun de sêrikên
onomazousi."]--PROCOP. _Persic._ I. _Metaxa_, or anciently _mataxa_,
"thread," "yarn," seems to be Latine rather than Greek. The _metaxarius_
was a "yarn-broker;" and the word having got possession of the market,
was extended to the woven stuff. The modern Greeks call silk [Greek:
metaxa.]]
[Footnote 3: [Greek: "tzandana,"] probably "sandalwood;" sometimes
called _agallochum._]
[Footnote 4: [Greek: "ta exôtera,"] those lying west of Cape Comorin.]
[Footnote 5: Malabar.]
[Footnote 6: Bombay.]
[Footnote 7: Scinde.]
[Footnote 8: [Greek: "androsthachon."]]
[Footnote 9: Southern Arabia, chiefly Hadramaut.]
"_Sielediba_, or Taprobane, lies seaward about five days' sail from the
mainland.[1] Then further on the continent is Marallo, which furnishes
_cochlea_[2]; then comes Kaber, which exports '_alabandanum_;'[3] and
next is the clove country, then China, which exports 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
possessing the hyacinth, receives goods from all nations, and again
distributes them, thus becoming a great emporium."
[Footnote 1: Cosmas probably means "the more distant _ports_ on" the
mainland of India.]
[Footnote 2: [Greek: "kochlious,"] probably chankshells, _turbinella
rapa._ See ABOUZEYD, vol. i. p. 6.]
[Footnote 3: [Greek: "alabandanon."]]
This description of the Indian trade by Cosmas is singularly
corroborative of the account that had previously 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[1], thus
mentioned by both authorities as engaged in voyages between Ceylon and
the countries east and west of Cape Cornorin, 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[2], attracted by the activity of its commerce, and the extensive
employment for shipping afforded by its transit trade.
[Footnote 1: [Greek: "topika ploia."]--_Periplus._]
[Footnote 2: REINAUD, _Mém. sur l'Inde_, p. 124. and _Introd._
ABOULFEDA.]
Amongst the objects, the introduction of which was eagerly encouraged 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 sagacity 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.
[Greek:
"Mêtera Taprobanên Asiêgeneôn elephantôn."]
DIONYSIUS PERIEGETES, v. 593.
Cosmas observes upon the smallness of their tusks compared with 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 allusions to Ceylon, but the passages extracted above,
present the bulk of his information concerning the island.[1]
[Footnote 1: The above translation has been made from THEVENOT's version
of Cosmas, which may differ slightly from that of MONTFAUCON, _Collect.
Nov. Patrum._ Paris, 1706, vol. ii. p.]
NOTE (A).
_Knowledge of Ceylon possessed by the Phoenicians._
In the previous chapter, p. 526, &c., allusion 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 SANCHONIATHON, published by Wagenfeld, at Bremen,
in 1837, under the title of "_Sanchuniathonis Historiarum Phoeniciæ
Libri Novem Groece Versos a Philone Byblio_, edidit Latinaque Versione
donavit F. WAGENFELD."
Sanchoniathon is alleged to have lived before the Trojan war; and in
Asiatic chronology he is said to have been a contemporary of Semiramis.
The Phoenician original perished; but its contents were preserved in the
Greek translation of Philo, a native of Byblus, a frontier town of
Phoenicia, who wrote in the first century after Christ, and till the
alleged discovery of the MS. from which Wagenfeld professed to publish,
the only portion of Philo's version known 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 ventured to print
appeared with a preface by Grotefend. Its genuineness was instantly
impugned; a learned and protracted controversy arose; and though
Wagenfeld eventually published 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 probability 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 ERSCH _and_ GRÜBER'S
_Encyclopædia_, 1847; MÖVER'S _Phoenician History_, vol. i. p. 117.)
[336. In point of time, the notice of Ceylon given by the Armenian
Archbishop Moses of Chorene in his _Historia Armeniaca et Epitome
Geographiæ_, is entitled to precede that of Cosmos Indico-pleustes,
inasmuch as Moses has translated into Armenian the Greek text of Pappus
of Alexandria, who wrote about the end of the fourth century. Of
Taprobane he says--it is one of the largest islands in the world, being
1100 miles in length by 1500 broad, and reckons 1370 adjacent islands
amongst its dependencies. He alludes 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 braiding it in tresses on the top of
their heads, "viri regionis istius capillis muliebribus sua capita
redimiunt."--MOSES CHORENENSIS, &c., edit. Whiston, 1736, p. 367. The
most remarkable circumstance is that he alludes thus early to the
footprint on Adam's Peak, which is probably the meaning of his
expression, "_ibidem Satanæ lapsum narrant_," t. iv.]
In books vii. and viii, Sanchoniathon gives an account of an island in
the Indian seas explored by Tyrian navigators, 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
Rachius_", is borrowed from Pliny. The period of their visit is fixed by
Sanchoniathon 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 Tenga, 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 narratives of the same kind, and to record them all in a book.
In this manner he obtained accurate geographical descriptions of all the
regions to the east and the west, both islands and inland parts. But the
Æthiopians[1] represented to the king that to the south there were great
and renowned countries, densely populated, and rich in precious things,
_gold_ and _silver_, pearls, gems, ebony, pepper, elephants, _monkeys_,
parrots, _peacocks_, and innumerable 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
Natambalus, the king of the Babylonians, who were to say to him, 'I have
heard that the countries of the Æthiopians 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
Æthiopian merchants, who resorted to Babylon, vowed that they would take
their departure if he should assist Joramus to sail to Æthiopia." (Chap.
ix.) "Subsequently Joramus addressed himself to Irenius of Judea, and
undertook that if he would let the Tyrians have a harbour on the sea
towards Æthiopia, 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 suitable for constructing
vessels, Joramus despatched eight thousand camels to Ilotha, loaded with
materials for ship-building, and ordered the shipwrights to build ten
ships, and he appointed Cedarus and Jaminus and Cotilus, commanders....
They sailed from Ilotha; but furious tempests prevented them from
passing the straits.[2] And while they were wind-bound, they remained
five months in a certain island, and having 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
Babylonian ships returning from Æthiopia.[3] And on the following day
they arrived at the country of the Æthiopians, which they perceived
sandy and devoid of water on the coast, but mountainous inland. They
then sailed eastward along the shore for ten days. There an immense
region extends to the south, and the Æthiopians 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 ([Greek: Rhachiou nêson])."
[Footnote 1: The Æthiopians alluded to were a company of Indian jugglers
and snake-charmers, whose arrival from Babylon is mentioned lib. vii.
ch. i.]
[Footnote 2: Of Bab-el-mandeb.]
[Footnote 3: India.]
(Ch. 9.) "The roadstead was in front of a level strand, bordered 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[1]; 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
instructions 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 Rochapatta, 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 villagers as they passed 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 rivers. Having proceeded thus
for several days, they at length descried the city of Rochapatta,
environed by lofty mountains. And when it was known that they had
arrived (for the rumour of their approach had preceded them) the
inhabitants rushed from the city in a body to see the Tyrians; some
riding on elephants, some on asses, some in palanquins, 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 Rachius, who was
seated on a beautiful couch. Presents were then interchanged.
"To the Tyrians, who brought horses and purple robes, and seats of cedar,
the King gave in return, pearls, gold, 2000 elephants' teeth, and much
unequalled cinnamon ([Greek: kinnamô pollô te kai diapheronti]); 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 Rachius on every side, except that to the north and west there
is _an isthmus which affords 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 ([Greek: ês kai ichnos estin en tois orois]).
[Footnote 1: Galle?]
"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 productions 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 ([Greek: kasia de hê arômatikôtatê]).
"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 captured of surprising size. In this region
the shore is inhospitable, 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 ([Greek: tôn pros esperan tetrammenôn tôn kinnamômophorôn]);
and it was there the Tyrian ships cast anchor. The third rules the
region towards the north, which produces pearls. He has made a great
rampart on the isthmus to control the passage of the barbarians from the
opposite coast; for they used to make incursions in great numbers, and
destroyed all the houses, temples, and plantations they could reach, and
slew such men as were near, or could not flee to the mountains. The
fourth king governs the region to the east, producing the richest gems
in surprising profusion; the ruby, the sapphire, and diamond. All these,
being the brothers of the great king in Rochapatta, are appointed to
rule over these places, and he who is the eldest of the brothers has the
supreme power, and is called the chief and mighty ruler. He has a
thousand black elephants, and five light-coloured ones. The black are
abundant, but the fair-coloured are rare, and found nowhere except in
this island, and the black ones do homage to them. Having captured such
a one, they bring him to the king in Rochapatta, whose peculiar
prerogative it is to ride on a white elephant, this being unlawful for
his subjects. There are many fierce crocodiles in the rivers, and they
are killed by crowds of men who rush with shouts into the water, armed
with sharp stakes. And ten days after they arrived in Rochapatta, many
Tyrians joined Rachius in hunting crocodiles." (Ch. xii.) "When the
ships returned to Tyre, Joramus gave orders to erect a pillar at the
temple of Melicarthus, and to engrave on it an account of all that had
taken place. This pillar was thrown down in the earthquake of last year,
but it was not broken, so that the narrative can even now be seen."