exaggerated the size of Ceylon: they represented it as lying "cross-wise"
in the Indian Ocean[1], and extending in width from east to west one
third more than in depth from north to south.[2] They were struck 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[3] impressed by the
first created man, who, in their mythology, bears the name of Pawn-koo;
and the gems which are found upon the mountain they believe to be his
"crystallised tears, which accounts for their singular lustre and
marvellous tints."[4] The country they admired for its fertility and
singular beauty; the climate they compared to that of Siam[5], with
slight alterations of seasons; refreshing showers in every period of the
year, and the earth consequently teeming with fertility.[6]
[Footnote 1: _Taou-e ché-lë[)o]_, quoted in the _Hae-kw[)o]-too che_,
Foreign Geography, b. xviii. p. 15.]
[Footnote 2: _Leang-shoo_, b. liv. p. 10; _Nan-shè_, b. lxxiii. p. 13;
_Tung-tëen_, b. clxxxviii. p. 17.]
[Footnote 3: The Chinese books repeat the popular belief that the hollow
of the sacred footstep contains water "which does not dry up all the
year round;" and that invalids recover by drinking from the well at the
foot of the mountain; into which "the sea-water enters free from salt."
_Taou-e ché-lë[)o]_, quoted in the _Hae-kw[)o]-toô-ché_, or Foreign
Geography, b. xxviii. p. 15.]
[Footnote 4: _Po-w[)u]h Yaou-lan_, b. xxxiii. p. 1. WANG-KE,
_S[)u]-Wan-hëentung-kaou_, b. ccxxxvi. p. 19.]
[Footnote 5: _Tung-tëen_, b. clxxxviii. p. 17. _Tae-ping_, b. dcclxxxvii
p. 5.]
[Footnote 6: _Leang-shoo_, b. liv. p. 10.]
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 implied by each designation. Thus, Sinhala was either rendered
"_Seng-kia-lo_,"[1] or "_Sze-tseu-kw[)o]_," the latter name as well as
the original, meaning "the kingdom of lions."[2] The classical Lanka is
preserved in the Chinese "_Lang-kea_" and "_Lang-ya-seu_" In the epithet
"_Ch[)i]h-too_," the _Red Land_[3], we have a simple rendering of the
Pali _Tambapanni_, the "Copper-palmed," from the colour of the soil.[4]
_Paou-choo_[5] is a translation of the Sanskrit Ratna-dwipa, the "Island
of Gems," and _Ts[)i]h-e-lan, Se[)i]h-lan_, and _Se-lung_, are all
modern modifications of the European "Ceylon."
[Footnote 1: _Hiouen-Thsang_, b. iv. p. 194. Transl. M.S. Julien.]
[Footnote 2: This, M. Stanislas Julien says, should be "the kingdom of
_the lion_," in allusion to the mythical ancestry of Wijayo.--_Journ.
Asiat_, tom. xxix. p. 37. And in a note to the tenth book of
HIOUEN-THSANG'S _Voyages des Pélerins 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."]
[Footnote 3: _Suy-shoo_, b. lxxx. p. 3. In the _Se-y[)i]h-ké foo-choo_,
or "Descriptions of Western Countries," Ceylon is called
_Woo-yew-kw[(o]_, "the sorrowless kingdom."]
[Footnote 4: _Mahawanso_, ch. vii. p. 50.]
[Footnote 5: _Se-y[)i]h-ké foo-choo_, quoted in the _Haè-kw[)o]-too
che_, or "Foreign Geography," l. xviii. p. 15; HIOUEN-THSANG; _Voyages
des Péler. Boudd_. lib. xi. vol. ii. p. 125; 130 n.]
The ideas of the 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 which we are made familiar in the following passage from F[)A]
HIAN:--" Sze-tseu-kw[)o], the kingdom of lions[1], was inhabited
originally not by men but by demons and dragons.[2] Merchants were
attracted to the island, by the prospect of trade; but the demons
remained unseen, merely exposing the precious articles which they wished
to barter: with a price marked for each, at which the foreign traders
were at liberty to take them, depositing the equivalents indicated in
exchange. From the resort of these dealers, the inhabitants of other
countries, hearing of the attractions of the island, resorted to it in
large numbers, and thus eventually a great kingdom was formed."[3]
[Footnote 1: _Wan-hëen tung-kaou_, b. cccxxxviii. p. 24.]
[Footnote 2: The Yakkhos and Nagas ("devils" and "serpents") of the
_Mahawanso_.]
[Footnote 3: _Fo[)e]-Kou[)e] Ki_, ch. xxxviii. p. 333. Transl. RÉMUSAT.
This account of Ceylon is repeated almost verbatim in the _Tung-tëen_,
and in numerous other Chinese works, with the addition that the
newly-formed kingdom of Sinhala, "Sze-tseu-kw[)o]," took its name from
the "skill of the natives in training lions."--B. cxciii. pp. 8, 9;
_Tae-ping_, b. dccxciii. p. 9; _Sin-Tang-shoo_, b. cxlvi. part ii. p.
10. A very accurate translation of the passage as it is given by
MA-TOUAN-LIN is published by M. Stanislas Julien in the _Journ. Asiat._
for July, 1836, tom. xxix. p. 36.]
The Chinese were aware of two separate races, one occupying the northern
and the other the southern extremity of the island, and were struck with
the resemblance of the Tamils to the Hoo, a people of Central Asia, and
of the Singhalese to the Leaou, a mountain tribe of Western China.[1]
The latter they describe as having "large ears, long eyes, purple faces,
black bodies, moist and strong hands and feet, and living to one hundred
years and upwards.[2] Their hair was worn long and flowing, not only by
the women but by the men." In these details there are particulars that
closely resemble the description of the natives of the island visited by
Jambulus, as related in the story told by Diodorus.[3]
[Footnote 1: _Too-Hiouen_, quoted in the _Tung-tëen_, b. cxciii. p. 8.]
[Footnote 2: _Taou-e ché-lë[)o]_, quoted in the _Hae-kw[)o]-too ché_, or
"Foreign Geography," b. xviii p. 15.]
[Footnote 3: DIODORUS SICULUS, lib. ii. ch. liii. See _ante_, Vol. I. P.
v. ch. 1. p. 153.]
The Chinese in the seventh century found the Singhalese dressed in a
costume which appears to be nearly identical with that of the present
day.[1] Both males and females had their hair long and flowing, but the
heads of children were closely shaven, a practice which still partially
prevails. The jackets of the girls were occasionally ornamented with
gems.[2] "The men," says the _Tung-tëen_, "have the upper part of the
body naked, but cover their limbs 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
provinces.[3] For their vests, the kings and nobles made use of a
substance which is described as 'cloud cloth,'[4] 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 _S[)u]h-wan-hëen
tung-kaou_, or the "Supplement to Antiquarian Researches," is strikingly
descriptive of what may be constantly 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 their
appropriate rite."[5]
[Footnote 1: _Leang-shoo_, b. liv. p. 10; _Nan-shè_, b. lxxviii. pp. 13,
14.]
[Footnote 2: _Nan-shè_, A.D. 650, b. lxxviii. p. 13; _Leang-shoo_, A.D.
670; b. liv. p. 11. Such is still the dress of the Singhalese females.
[Illustration: A MOODLIAR AND HIS WIFE.]]
[Footnote 3: _Tung-tëen_, b. clxxxviii. p. 17; _Nan-shè_, b. lxxviii. p.
13; _Sin-tang-shoo_, b. cxcviii p. 25. See p. iv. ch. iv, vol. i. p.
450.]
[Footnote 4: The Chinese term is "yun-hae-poo."--_Leang-shoo_, b. liv.
p. 10.]
[Footnote 5: B. ccxxxvi. p. 19.]
The natural riches of Ceylon, and its productive capabilities, speedily
impressed the Chinese, who were bent upon the discovery of outlets for
their commerce, with the conviction of its importance as an emporium of
trade. So remote was the age at which strangers frequented it, that in
the "_Account of Island Foreigners,"_ written by WANG-TA-YUEN[1] in the
fourteenth century, it is stated that the origin of trade in the island
was coeval with the visit of Buddha, who, "taking compassion on the
aborigines, who were poor and addicted to robbery, turned their
disposition to virtue, by sprinkling 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.[2] Though
aware of the unsuitability of the climate to ripen wheat, the Chinese
were struck with admiration at the wonderful appliances of the
Singhalese for irrigation, and the cultivation of rice.[3]
[Footnote 1: _Taou-e ché-lë[)o]_, quoted in the Foreign Geography, b.
xviii. p. 15.]
[Footnote 2: The rapid peopling of Ceylon at a very remote age is
accounted for in the following terms in a passage of MA-TWAN-LIN, as
translated by M. Stanislas Julien;--"Les habitants des autres royaumes
entendirent parler de ce pays fortuné; c'est pourquoi ils y accoururent
à l'envi."--_Journ. Asiat._ t. xxix. p. 42.]
[Footnote 3: Records of the Ming Dynasty, by CHING-HEAOU, b. lxviii. p.
5.]
According to the _Tung-tëen_, the intercourse between them and the
Singhalese, began during the Eastern Tsin dynasty, A.D. 317--419[1]; 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 the place is still known,
_Ajung_, in the language of the Malays, being the term for "large
shipping," and _Selan_, their name for Ceylon.[2]
[Footnote 1: _Tung-tëen_, A.D. 740, b. clxxxviii. p. 17.]
[Footnote 2: _Sincapore Chronicle_, 1836.]
The port in Ceylon which the Chinese vessels made their rendezvous, was
Lo-le (Galle), "where," it is said, "ships anchor, and people land."[1]
[Footnote 1: WANG-KE, _Suh-wan-hëen tung-kaou_, b. ccxxxvi p. 19.]
Besides rice, the vegetable productions of the island enumerated by the
various Chinese authorities were aloes-wood, sandal-wood[1], and ebony;
camphor[2], areca-nuts, beans, sesamum, coco-nuts (and arrack distilled
from the coco-nut palm) pepper, sugar-cane, myrrh, frankincense, oil and
drugs.[3] An odoriferous extract, called by the Chinese _Shoo-heang_, is
likewise particularised, but it is not possible now to identify it.
[Footnote 1: 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 calamander, or Coromandel-wood, which is rapidly
approaching extinction, sandal-wood was extirpated from the island by
injudicious cutting, unaccompanied by any precautions for the
reproduction of the tree?]
[Footnote 2: _Nan-shè_, b. lxxviii. p. 13.]
[Footnote 3: _Suh-Hung keën-luh_, b. xlii. p. 52.]
Elephants and ivory were in request; and the only manufactures alluded
to for export were woven cotton[1], gold ornaments, and jewelry;
including models of the shrines in which were deposited the sacred
relics of Buddha.[2] Statues of Buddha were frequently sent as royal
presents, and so great was the fame of Ceylon for their production in
the fourth and fifth centuries, 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-té.[3] On standing about ten paces distant they appeared truly
brilliant, but the lineaments gradually disappeared on a nearer
approach."[4]
[Footnote 1: _Tsih-foo yuen-kwei_, A.D. 1012, b. dcccclxxi. p. 15. At a
later period "Western cloth" is mentioned among the exports of Ceylon,
but the reference must be to cloth previously imported either from India
or Persia.--_Ming-she History of the Ming Dynasty,_ A.D. 1368--1643, b.
cccxxvi. p. 7.]
[Footnote 2: A model of the shrine containing the sacred tooth was sent
to the Emperor of China in the fifth century by the King of Ceylon;
"_Chacha Mo-ho-nan,"_ a name which appears to coincide with Raja Maha
Nama, who reigned A.D. 410--433.--_Shunshoo_, A.D. 487, b. xlvii. p. 6.]
[Footnote 3: Nan-té 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.--_Ts[)i]h-foo yuen-kwei,_ b. li. p. 7.]
[Footnote 4: _Wei-shoo,_ A.D. 590, b. cxiv. p. 9.]
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 selling them seems from the earliest time to have
fallen into the hands of the Arabs, and hence they bore in China the
designation of "Mahometan stones."[1] They consisted of rubies,
sapphires, amethysts, carbuncles (the "red precious stone, the lustre of
which serves instead of a lamp at night")[2]; and topazes of four
distinct tints, "those the colour of wine; the delicate tint of young
goslings, the deep amber, like bees'-wax, and the pale tinge resembling
the opening bud of the pine."[3] 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 whatever of _cinnamon_ as a production of Ceylon;
although cassia, described under the name of kwei, is mentioned as
indigenous in China and Cochin-China. In 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.[4]
[Footnote 1: _Tsih-ke,_ quoted in the Chinese _Mirror of Sciences,_ b.
xxxiii. p. 1.]
[Footnote 2: _Po-w[)u]h yaou-lan,_ b. xxxiii. p. 2.]
[Footnote 3: _Ibid_.]
[Footnote 4: _Suy-shoo_, "History of the Suy Dynasty," A.D. 633, b.
lxxxi. p. 3.]
Of the religion of the people, the earliest account recorded by the
Chinese is that of F[)A] HIAN, in the fourth century[1], when Buddhism
was signally in the ascendant. But in the century which followed,
travellers returning from Ceylon brought back accounts of the growing
power of the Tamils, and of the consequent eclipse of the national
worship. The _Yung-tëen_ and the _Tae-ping_ describe at that early
period the prevalence of Brahmanical customs, but coupled with "greater
reverence for the Buddhistical faith."[2] In process of time, however,
they are forced to admit the gradual decline of the latter, and the
attachment of the Singhalese kings to the Hindu ritual, exhibiting an
equal reverence to the ox and to the images of Buddha.[3]
[Footnote 1: _Fo[)e]-Kou[)e] Ki_, ch. xxxviii.]
[Footnote 2: _Tae-ping_, b. dccxciii, p. 9.]
[Footnote 3: _Woo-hë[)o]-pëen_, "Records of the Ming Dynasty," b.
lxviii. p. 4; _Tung-në[)e]_, b. cxcvi. pp. 79, 80.]
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 _Mahawanso_.[1] From these pious communities, the Emperors of China
were accustomed from time to time to solicit transcripts of theological
works[2], and their envoys, returning from such missions, appear to have
brought glowing accounts of the Singhalese temples, the costly shrines
for relics, and the fervid devotion of the people to the national
worship.[3]
[Footnote 1: _Mahawanso_, ch. xv. p. 99; ch. xx. p. 123. In the
Itinerary of KÉ-NË[)E]'s _Travels in the Western Kingdoms in the tenth
Century_ he mentions having seen a monastery of Singhalese on the
continent of India.--KÉ-NË[)E], _Se-y[)i]h hing-ching_, A.D. 964--976.]
[Footnote 2: _Tae-ping_, b. dcclxxxvii. p. 5.]
[Footnote 3: _Taou-e ché-lë[)o]_. "Account of Island Foreigners," quoted
in the "_Foreign Geography_" b. xviii. p. 15. _Se-y[)i]-ke foo-choo_.
Ib. "At daybreak every 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 delivered upon the principles of
vacancy (nirwana?) and abstraction from all material objects, in order
that truth maybe studied in solitude and silence, and the unfathomable
point of principle attained free from the distracting influences of
sound or smell."--_Ts[)i]h-foo yaen-kwei_, A.D. 1012, b. dcccclxi. p.
5.]
The cities of Ceylon in the sixth century are stated, in the "_History
of the Leang Dynasty_," to have been encompassed by walls built of
brick, with double gates, and the houses within were constructed with
upper stories.[1] The palace of the king, at Anarajapoora, in the
eleventh century, was sufficiently splendid to excite the admiration of
these visitants, "the precious articles with which it was decorated
being reflected in the thoroughfares."[2]
[Footnote 1: _Leang-shoo_, A.D. 630, b. liv. p 11.]
[Footnote 2: _Ts[)i]h-foo yaen-kwei_, b. dcccclxi. p. 5.]
The Chinese authors, like the Greeks and Arabians, are warm in their
praises of the patriotism of the Singhalese sovereigns, and their active
exertions for the improvement of the country, and the prosperity of the
people.[1] On state occasions, the king, "carried on an elephant, and
accompanied by banners, streamers, and tom-toms, rode under a canopy[2],
attended by a military guard."[3]
[Footnote 1: Ibid.]
[Footnote 2: The "chatta," or umbrella, emblematic of royalty.]
[Footnote 3: _Leang-shoo_. b. liv. p. 10.]
Throughout all the Chinese accounts, from the very earliest period,
there are notices of the manners of the Singhalese, and even minute
particulars of their domestic habits, which attest a continued
intercourse and an intimate familiarity between the people of the two
countries.[1] In this important feature the narratives of the Arabs,
who, with the exception of the pilgrimage made with difficulty to Adam's
Peak, appear to have known only the sea-coast and the mercantile
communities established there, exhibit a marked difference when compared
with those of the Chinese; as the latter, in addition 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 attracting as it
did the people of China to the sacred island, which had become the great
metropolis of their common faith, and to the sympathy and hospitality
with which the Singhalese welcomed the frequent visits of their distant
co-religionists.
[Footnote 1: This is apparent from the fact that their statements are
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 opportunities of noting peculiarities in
the customs of the females. They describe their dress, their mode of
tying their hair, their treatment of infants and children, the fact that
the women as well as the men were addicted to chewing betel, and that
they did not sit down to meals with their husbands, but "retired to some
private apartments to eat their food."]
This 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 relics of
Buddha, and to collect transcripts of the sacred books, which contained
the exposition of his doctrines[1];--and the kings of Ceylon despatched
embassies in return, authorised to reciprocate these religious
sympathies and do homage to the imperial majesty of China.
[Footnote 1: _Hiouen-Thsang_, Introd. STANISLAS JULIEN, p. 1.]
The historical notices of the island by the Chinese relative to the
period immediately preceding the fourteenth century, are meagre, and
confined to a native tradition that "about 400 years after the
establishment of the kingdom, 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 own accord, and the
king thus satisfied of his sacred character did not venture to take his
life, but drove him into banishment to India (Tëen chuh), whence, after
marrying a royal princess, he was recalled to Ceylon on the death of the
tyrant, where he reigned twenty years, and was succeeded by his son,
_Po-kea Ta-To_."[l] 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.[2]
[Footnote 1: _Leang-shoo_, "History of the Leang Dynasty," b. liv. p.
10.]
[Footnote 2: _Mahawanso_, c. xxxvii. p 242. TURNOUR'S _Epitome_, &c., p.
24.]
The visit of Fa Hian, the zealous Buddhist pilgrim, in the fifth century
of our era, has been already frequently adverted to.[1] He landed in
Ceylon A.D. 412, and remained for two years at Anarajapoora, engaged in
transcribing the sacred books. Hence his descriptions are confined
almost exclusively to the capital; and he appears to have seen little of
the rest of the island. He dwells with delight 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 solidity, was called the "_Mountain without fear_."[2] But what most
excited his admiration was his finding no less than 5000 Buddhist
priests at the capital, 2000 in a single monastery on a mountain
(probably Mihintala), and between 50,000 and 60,000 dispersed throughout
the rest of the island.[3] Pearls and gems were the wealth of Ceylon;
and from the latter the king derived a royalty of three out of every ten
discovered.[4]
[Footnote 1: The _Fo[)e]-Kou[)e] Ki_, or "Description of Buddhist
Kingdoms," by FA-HIAN, has been translated by Rémusat, and edited by
Klaproth and Landresse, 4to. Paris, 1836.]
[Footnote 2: In Chinese, _Woo-wei_.]
[Footnote 3: _Fo[)e]-Kou[)e] Ki_, c. xxxviii. pp. 333, 334.]
[Footnote 4: _Ibid._, c. xxxvii. p. 328.]
The earliest embassy from Ceylon recorded in the Chinese[1] annals at
the beginning of the fifth century, appears to have proceeded overland
by way of India, and was ten years before reaching the capital of China.
It was the bearer of "a jade-stone image of Buddha, exhibiting every
colour in purity and richness, in workmanship unique, and appearing to
be beyond human art[2]."
[Footnote 1: A.D. 405. Gibbon alludes with natural surprise to his
discovery of the fact, that prior to the reign of Justinian, the
"monarch of China had actually received an embassy from the Island of
Ceylon."--_Decline and Fall_, c. xl.]
[Footnote 2: _Leang-shoo,_ A.D. 630, b. liv. p. 13. The ultimate fate of
this renowned work of art is related in the _Leang-shoo,_ and several
other of the Chinese chronicles. Throughout the | Tsin and Sung
dynasties it was preserved in the Wa-kwan monastery at Nankin, along
with five other statues and three paintings which were esteemed
chefs-d'oeuvre. The jade-stone image was at length destroyed in the time
of Tung-hwan, of the Tse dynasty; first, the arm was broken off, and
eventually the body taken to make hair-pins and armlets for the
emperor's favourite consort Pwan. _Nân-shè,_ b. lxxviii. p. 13.
_Tung-tëen,_ b. cxciii. p. 8. _Tae-ping,_ &c., b. dcclxxxvii. p. 6.]
During the same century there were four other embassies from Ceylon. One
A.D. 428, when the King Cha-cha Mo-ho-nan (Raja Maha Naama) sent an
address to the emperor, which will be found in the history of the
Northern Sung dynasty[1], 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 Nanté, the
celebrated sculptor, brought as a gift to the emperor a "three-fold
image of Buddha."[2]
[Footnote 1: _Sung-shoo,_ A.D. 487, b. xcvii. p. 5.]
[Footnote 2: 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.]
According to the Chinese annalists, 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 was deterred by fear of winds and
waves."[1]
[Footnote 1: _Leang-shoo,_ b. liv. p. 10. _Y[(u]h-hae,_ "Ocean of Gems,"
A.D. 1331, b. clii. p. 33. The latter authority announces in like terms
two other embassies with tribute to China, one in A.D. 523, and another
in the reign of Kirti Sena, A.D. 527. The _Tsih-foo yuen-kwei_ mentions
a similar mission in A.D. 531, b. dcccclxviii. p. 20.]
But although all these embassies are recorded in the Chinese chronicles
as so many instances of acknowledged subjection, there is every reason
to believe that the magniloquent terms in which they are described are
by no means to be taken in a literal sense, and that the offerings
enumerated were merely in recognition of the privilege of commercial
intercourse subsisting between 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 century, when Dalu-piatissa
despatched "a memorial and offerings of native productions;"[1] but
there were four in the century following[2], after which there occurs an
interval of above five hundred years, during 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 Chinese
soldiers took service in the army of Prakrama III. A.D. 1266.[3]
[Footnote 1: A.D. 670. _Ts[)i]h-foo yuen-kwei_, b. dcccclxx. p. 16. It
was in the early part of this century, during a period of intestine
commotion, when the native princes were overawed by the Malabars, that
_Hiouen-Thsang_ 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. 629--633. See Transl. by STANISLAS JULIEN, "_La Vie de
Hiouen-Thsang_," Paris, 1853, pp. 192--198.]
[Footnote 2: A.D. 711, A.D. 746, A.D. 750, and A.D. 762. _Ts[)i]h-foo
yuen-kwei,_ b. dcccclxxi. p. 17. On the second occasion (A.D. 746) 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 offerings head-ornaments of gold, precious neck-pendants, a
copy of the great Prajna Sutra, and forty webs of fine cotton cloth."]
[Footnote 3: See the _Kawia-sakara_, written about A.D. 1410.]
In the thirteenth and fourteenth centuries, the only records of
intercourse relate to the occasional despatch of public officers by the
emperor of China to collect gems and medical drugs, and on three
successive occasions during the earlier part of the Yuen dynasty, envoys
were empowered to negotiate the purchase of the sacred alms-dish of
Buddha.[1]
[Footnote 1: "In front of the image of Buddha there is a sacred bowl
which is neither made of jade, nor copper, nor iron; it is of a purple
colour and glossy, and when struck it sounds like glass. At the
commencement of the Yuen dynasty, three separate envoys were sent to
obtain it."--_Taou-e che-leo_ "Account of Island Foreigners," A.D. 1350,
quoted in the "_Foreign Geography_", b. xviii. p. 15. This statement of
the Chinese authorities corroborates the story told by MARCO POLO,
possibly from personal knowledge, that "the Grand Khan Kublai sent
ambassadors to Ceylon with a request that the king would yield to him
possession of 'the great ruby' in return for the 'value of a
city.'"--(_Travels,_ ch. xix.) The MS. of MARCO POLO, which contains the
Latin version of his Travels, is deposited in the Imperial 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 account 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 knowledge:--"Quando autem magnus Kaan scivit quod isti
ambaxiatores redibant cum reliquis istis, et erant prope terram ubi ipse
tune erat, scilicet in Cambalu (Pekin), fecit mitti bandum quod omnes de
terra obviarent reliquis istis (quia credebat quod essent reliquiæ de
Adam) et istud fuit A.D. 1284."]
The beginning of the fifteenth century was, however, signalised by an
occurrence, the details of which throw light 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 Buddhism had
declined, 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 Sollee, and "an adherent of the heterodox
faith, so far from honouring Buddha, tyrannised over his followers."[1]
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."[2]
[Footnote 1: B. xviii. p. 15.]
[Footnote 2: _Ming-she_, b. cccxxvi, p. 7.]
In that year a mission from China, sent with incense and offerings to
the shrine of the tooth, was insulted and waylaid, and with difficulty
effected an escape from Ceylon.[1] According to the _Ming-she_, or
History of the Ming Dynasty, "the Emperor _Ching-tsoo_, indignant at
this 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 _Ching-Ho_, a soldier of distinction, with a fleet of
sixty-two ships and a large military escort, on an expedition to visit
the western kingdoms, furnished with proper credentials 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
refused submission, they were subdued by force; and the expedition
returned to China in A.D. 1407, accompanied by envoys from the several
nations, who came to pay court to the Emperor.
[Footnote 1: _Se-y[)i]h-ke foo-choo_, b. xviii. p. 15. This Chinese
invasion of Ceylon has been already adverted to in the sketch of the
domestic history of the island, Vol. I. Part IV. ch xii. p. 417.]
In the following year Ching-Ho, having been despatched 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 movement, avoided the
attack, and invested the capital[1], made a prisoner of the king,
succeeded in conveying him on board his fleet, and carried him captive
to China, together with his queen, his children, his officers of state,
and his attendants. He brought away with him spoils, which were long
afterwards exhibited in the Tsing-hae monastery at Nankin[2], 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 Buddha.[3] "In the
sixth month of the year 1411," says the author of the _Ming-Shè_, "the
prisoners were presented at court. The Chinese ministers pressed for
their execution, but the emperor, in pity for their ignorance, set them
at liberty, 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.[4] 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-hë[)o]-pëen_, or Record 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 Bahu Raja," the
sixth of his name, who transferred the seat of government from Gampola
to Cotta, and reigned from A.D. 1410 to 1462.[5]
[Footnote 1: Gampola.]
[Footnote 2: _S[)u]h-Wan-hëen tung-kaou_, book ccxxxvi p. 12.]
[Footnote 3: See note at the end of this chapter.]
[Footnote 4: _Ming-shè,_ b. cccxxvi. p. 5. M. STANISLAS JULIEN intimates
that the forthcoming volume of his version of the _Si-yu-ki_ will
contain the eleventh book, in which an account will be given of the
expedition of Ching Ho.--_Mémoires sur les Contrées Occidentales_, tom.
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 annotation of the fifteenth century,
which, by the inadvertence of transcribers, has become interpolated in
the text of _Hiouen-Thsang_. It contains, however, no additional facts
or statements beyond the questionable one before alluded to, that the
sacred tooth of Buddha was amongst the spoils carried to Pekin by Ching
Ho.]
[Footnote 5: _Woo-hë[)o]-pëen_, b. lxviii p. 5. See also the _Ta-tsing
y[)i]h-tung_, a topographical 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 _Rajavali_, published by Upham, this important
passage is rendered unintelligible by the want of fidelity of the
translator, who has transformed the conqueror into a "Malabar," and
ante-dated the event by a century. (_Rajavali_, 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 Wijayo-bahu, believing his professions (because
it had been customary in the time of King Prakrama-bahu for foreign
countries to pay tribute to Ceylon), acted incautiously, and he was
treacherously taken prisoner by the foreign king. His four brothers were
killed, and with them fell many people, and the king himself was carried
captive to China." DE COUTO, in his continuation of DE BARROS, has
introduced the story of the capture of the king by the Chinese; but he
has confounded the dates, mystified 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, &c_., dec. v. lib. i.
c. vi. vol. ii. part i. p. 51. PURCHAS says: "The Singhalese language is
thought to have been left there by the Chinois, some time Lord of
Zeilan."--_Pilgrimage_, 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 _Se-yung-ke_, which contains an enlarged
account of his exploits in Ceylon; but fact is so overlaid with fiction
that the passages are not worth extracting.]
For fifty years after this untoward event the subjection of Ceylon to
China appears to have been humbly 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.[1]
In 1430 A.D., at a period of intestine commotion, "Ching-Ho issued a
proclamation for the pacification of Ceylon," and, at a somewhat later
period, edicts were promulgated by the Emperor of China for the
government of the island.[2] In 1459 A.D., however, the series of
humiliations appears to have come abruptly to a close; for, "in that
year," says the _Ming-shè_, "the King of Ceylon for the last time sent
an envoy with tribute, and after that none ever came again."
[Footnote 1: _Ming-shè_, b. vii. pp. 4, 8.]
[Footnote 2: _Ibid_., b. cccxxvii. p. 7.]
On their arrival in Ceylon early in the sixteenth century[1], the
Portuguese found many evidences still existing of the intercourse and
influence of the Chinese. They learned that at a former period they had
established 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 Gallas or Chalias, the caste
who in great numbers still inhabit the country to the north of Point de
Galle.[2] But the conjecture is erroneous, the derivation of Singhala is
clearly traced to the Sanskrit "_Singha_;" besides which, in the
alphabet of the Singhalese, _n_ and _g_ combine to form a single and
insoluble letter.
[Footnote 1: A.D. 1565.]
[Footnote 2: "Serem os Chijis senhores da costa Choromandel, parte do
Malabar e desta Ilha Ceilão. Na qual Ilha leixáram huma lingua, a que
elles chamam Chingálla, e aos proprios póvos Chingallas, principalmente
os que vivem da ponta de Gálle por diante na face da terra contra o Sul,
e Oriente: e por ser pegada neste Cabo Gálle, chamou á outra gente, que
vivia do meio da ilha pera cima, aos que aqui habitavam _Chingilla_ e á
lingua delles tambem, _quasi como se dissessem lingua ou gente dos Chijo
de Galle"_--DE BARROS, _Asia, &c._, Dec. iii. lib. ii. c. i. DE COUTO'S
account is as follows: "E como os Chins formam os primeiros que
navegáram pelo Oriente, tendo noticia da canella, acudíram muitos
'juncos' aquella Ilha a carregar della, e dalli a levaram aos portos de
Persia, e da Arabia donde passou á Europa--de que se deixaram ficar
muitos Chins na terra, e se misturáram por casamentos com os naturaes;
_dantre quem nascêram huns mistços que se ficaram chamando Cim-Gallás;
ajuntando o nome dos naturaes, que eram Gallas aos dos Chins_, que
vieram por tempos a ser tão famosos, que deram o seu nome a todos os da
Ilha."--_Asia, &c._ Dec. v. lib. ch. v.]
In process of time, every trace disappeared of the former presence of
the Chinese in Ceylon--embassies ceased to arrive from the "Flowery
Kingdom," Chinese vessels deserted the harbours of the island, pilgrims
no longer repaired to the shrines of Buddha; and even the inscriptions
became obliterated in which the imperial offerings to the temples were
recorded on the rocks.[1] 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 solitary forest near some cave, from which
an impoverished Chinese renter annually gathers the edible nest of the
swallow.
[Footnote 1: _S[)u]h-Wan-heen tung-kaou_, book ccxxxvi. p. 12.]
* * * * *
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 some foreigners. The book is called
Ying-hw[)a]n-che-ke, or "The General Account of the Encircling Ocean."
"Se[)i]h-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 Kwang-se. In the middle of the Ming dynasty, the Portuguese seized
upon Se[)i]h-lan and established marts on the sea coast, which by
schemes the Hollanders 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 Se[)i]h-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 subjected it. The harbour for rendezvous on
the coast is called Ting-ko-ma-lé."
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 Se[)i]h-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 abundant, but inferior to Kiva-wa (Java). In the centre are
lofty mountains, which yield the A-k[)u]h (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, the high mountain is called Se[)i]h-lan;
hence the name of the island. It is said Buddha (Sh[)i]h-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 nëe-pwan (a Buddhistic
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-l[)o], of the Ming dynasty,
sent an ambassador extraordinary, Ching-Ho and others, to transmit the
Imperial mandate to the King A-l[)e]e-j[)o]-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-l[)e]e-j[)o]-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, Tëen-ching, Kwa-wa (Java), Mwan-che-kea, Soo-mun-ta-che
(Sumatra), and other countries, sent tribute in the tenth year of
Chin-tung, and the third year of Teen-shun they again sent tribute."[1]
[Footnote 1: There is here some confusion in the chronology; as
Teen-shun reigned before Ching-tung.]
"I have heard from an American, A-pe-le[1], that Se[)i]h-lan was the
original country of Teen-chuh (India), and that which is now called
Woo-yin-too was Teen-ch[)u]h, but in the course of time the names have
become confused. According to the records of the later Han dynasty,
Teen-ch[)u]h was considered the Shin-t[)u]h, and that the 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."
[Footnote 1: Mr. Abeel, an American missionary.]
CHAP. IV.
CEYLON AS KNOWN TO THE MOORS, GENOESE, AND VENETIANS.
The rapid survey of the commerce of India during the middle ages, which
it has been necessary to introduce into the preceding narrative, will
also serve to throw light on a subject hitherto but imperfectly
investigated.
The most remarkable of the many tribes which inhabit Ceylon are the
Mahometans, or, as they are generally called on the island, the
"Moor-men," energetic 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," applied to them, is the generic
term by which it was customary at one time, in Europe, to describe a
Mahometan, from whatsoever country he came, as the word Gentoo[1] was
formerly applied in England to the inhabitants of Hindustan, without
distinction of race. The practice probably originated from the Spaniards
having given that name to the followers of the Prophet, who, traversing
Morocco, overran the peninsula in the seventh and eighth centuries.[2]
The epithet was borrowed by the Portuguese, who, after their discovery
of the passage by the Cape of Good Hope, bestowed it indiscriminately
upon the Arabs and their descendants, whom, in the sixteenth century,
they found established 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.
[Footnote 1: The practice originated with the Portuguese, who applied to
any unconverted native of India the term _gentio_, "idolator" or
"barbarian."]
[Footnote 2: The Spanish word "_Moro_" and the Portuguese, "_Mouro_" may
be traced either to the "Mauri," the ancient people of Mauritania, now
Morocco, or to the modern name of "Moghrib," by which the inhabitants,
the Moghribins, designate their country.]
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 established themselves at Jaffna,
Manaar, Koodramali, Putlam, Colombo, Barberyn, Point de Galle, and
Trincomalie."[1] 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 Red Sea; that they had frequented the coasts of India as
seamen, and then infested them as pirates; and that their first
appearance in Ceylon was not earlier than the century preceding the
landing of the Portuguese.[2]
[Footnote 1: _Trans. Roy. Asiat. Society_, 1827, A.D. vol. i. 538. The
Moors, who were the informants of Sir Alexander Johnston, probably spoke
on the equivocal authority of the _Tohfut-ul-mujahideen_, which is
generally, but erroneously, described 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 its earliest apostles were a Sheikh and his companions,
who touched at Cranganore about 822 A.D., when on their journey as
pilgrims 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 before formed establishments at numerous places
on the coast.]
[Footnote 2: VALENTYN, ch. xv. p. 214.]
The truth, however, is, that there were Arabs in Ceylon ages before the
earliest date named in these conjectures[1]; they were known there as
traders centuries before Mahomet was born, and such was their passion
for enterprise, that at one and the same moment they were pursuing
commerce in the Indian Ocean[2], and manning the galleys of Marc Antony
in the fatal sea-fight at Actium.[3] The author of the _Periplus_ found
them in Ceylon about the first Christian century, Cosmas Indico-pleustes
in the sixth; and they had become so numerous in China in the eighth, as
to cause a tumult at Canton.[4] From the tenth 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.[5] The "Moors,"
who at the present day inhabit the coasts of Ceylon, are the descendants
of these active adventurers; they are not purely Arabs in blood, but
descendants from Arabian ancestors by intermarriage with the native
races who embraced the religion of the Prophet.[6] The Singhalese
epithet of "_Marak-kala-minisu_" or "Mariners," describes at once their
origin and occupation; 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 manufacturers or producers in any department; their genius was
purely commercial, and their 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 contented and apathetic
Singhalese in the villages and forests of the interior passed their
lives 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 warehouses at the ports,
crowded the harbours with their shipping, and collected the wealth and
luxuries of the island, its precious stones, its dye-woods, its spices
and ivory, to be forwarded to China and the Persian Gulf.
[Footnote 1: MOUNTSTUART ELPHINSTONE, on the authority of Agatharchidos
(as quoted by Diodorus and Photius), says, that "from all that appears
in that author, we should conclude that two centuries before the
Christian era, the trade (between India and the ports of Sabæa) was
entirely in the hands of the Arabs."--_Hist. India_, b. iii. c. x. p.
167.]
[Footnote 2: Pliny, b. vi. c. 22.]
[Footnote 3:
"Omnis eo terrore Ægyptus et Indi
Omnes Arabes vertebant terga Sabæi."
VIRGIL, _Æn._ viii. 705.]
[Footnote 4: ABOU-ZEYD, vol. i. p. xlii. cix.]
[Footnote 5: VINCENT, vol. ii. p. 451. The Moors of Ceylon are identical
in race with "the Mopillees of the Malabar coast."--McKENZIE, _Asiat.
Res._, vol. vi. p. 430.]
[Footnote 6: In a former work, "_Christianity in Ceylon_," I was led, by
incorrect 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, universally Sonnees, belonging to one of the four orthodox
sects called _Shafees_, and using Arabic as their ritual dialect. Their
vernacular is Tamil, mixed with a number of Arabic words; and 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 believe themselves to be of the posterity of Hashem; and,
according to one tradition, their progenitors were driven from Arabia by
Mahomet himself, as a punishment for their cowardice at the battle of
Ohod. But according to another version, they fled from the tyranny of
the Khalif Abu al Malek ben Merivan, in the early part of the eighth
century. Their first settlement 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 Hejira,
(A.D. 1024.) These legends would seem to refer to the arrival 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 Chitty on "the Manners and
Customs of the Moors of Ceylon."]
MARCO POLO, in the thirteenth century, found the Moors in uncontested
possession of this busy and lucrative 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 monopolising its commerce, but
Moors from the coast of Malabar were continually arriving to swell their
numbers, allured by the facilities of commerce and the unrestrained
freedom enjoyed under the government.[1] In process of time their
prosperity invested them with political influence, and in the decline of
the Singhalese monarchy they took advantage 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.[2] They engaged in conspiracies against the native princes; and
Wijayo Bahu VII., who was murdered in 1534, was slain by a turbulent
Moorish leader called Soleyman, whom his eldest son and successor had
instigated to the crime.[3]
[Footnote 1: "Molti Mori Malabari vengono à stantiare in questa isola
per esser in grandissima libertà, oltra tutte le commodita e delitie del
mondo," etc.--ODOARDO BARBOSA, _Sommario delle Indie Orientale_, in
_Ramusio_, vol. i. p. 313.]
[Footnote 2: _Rajavali_, p. 274.]
[Footnote 3: Ib., p. 284. PORCACCHI, in his _Isolario_, written at
Venice A.D. 1576, thus records the traditional reputation of the Moors
of Ceylon:--"I Mori ch' habitano hoggi la Taprobana fanno grandissimi
traffichi, nauigando per tutto: et piu anchora vengono da diverse parte
molte mercantie, massimamente dal paese di Cambaia, con coralli,
cinabrio, et argento vivo. Ma son questi Mori perfidi et ammazzono
spesse, volte i lor Re; et ne creano degli altri."--Page 188.]
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 looking to the facility with
which the former had previously superseded the Malabars, and were fast
acquiring 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 kingdom,
under the rule of some Arabian adventurer.
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.
The productions of India, whether they passed by the Oxus to the
Caspian, or were transported in caravans 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 Empire, were the
most opulent in the world. During the same period, Egypt commanded the
trade of the Red Sea; and received, through Aden, the luxuries of the
far East, with which she supplied the Moorish princes of Spain, and the
countries bordering on the Mediterranean.[1]
[Footnote 1: ODOARDO BARBOSA, In Ramusio, vol. i. p. 292. BALDELLI BONI,
_Relazione dell' Europa e dell' Asia,_ lib. ix. ch. xlvii FARIA Y SOUSA;
_Portug. Asia,_ part i. ch. viii.]
Even when the dominion of the Khalifs was threatened 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 Venetians, each eager to engross the supply of
Europe, sought permission from the Emperors to form establishments on
the shores of the Black Sea and the Mediterranean. The former advanced
their fortified factories as far eastward as Tabriz, to meet the
caravans returning from the Persian Gulf[1], and the latter, in addition
to the formation of settlements at Tyre, Beyrout, and Acre[2], 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.[3] It was through
Venice that England and the western nations obtained the delicacies of
India and China, down to the period when the overland route and the Red
Sea were deserted for the grander passage by the Cape of Good Hope.[4]
[Footnote 1: GIBBON, _Decl. and Fall,_ ch. lxiii.]
[Footnote 2: DARU, _Hist. de Venise_ lib. xix. vol. iv. p. 74.
MACPHERSON'S _Annals of Commerce,_ vol. i. p. 370.]
[Footnote 3: So impatient were the Venetians to grasp the trade of
Alexandria that Marino Sanuto, about the year 1321 A.D., endeavoured to
excite a new crusade in order to wrest it from the Sultan of Egypt by
force of arms, _Secreta Fidelium Crucis,_ in BONGARS, _Gesta Dei per
Francos,_ Hanau, 1611. ADAM SMITH, _Wealth of Nations,_ b. iv. ch, vii
DARU, _Hist. de Venise,_ lib. xix, vol. iv, p. 88.]
[Footnote 4: GIBBON, _Decl. and Fall_, ch. lx. The last of the Venetion
"argosies" which reached the shores of England was cast away on the Isle
of Wight, A.D. 1587.]
Another great event which stimulated the commercial activity of the
Italians in the thirteenth and fourteenth centuries, was the
extraordinary progress of the Mongols, who in an incredibly short space
of time absorbed Central Asia into one powerful empire, overthrew the
ancient monarchy of China, penetrated to the heart of Russia, and
directed their arms with equal success both against Poland and Japan.
The popes and the sovereigns of Europe, alike alarmed for their
dominions and their faith, despatched ambassadors to the Great Khan; the
mission resulted in allaying apprehension for the further advance of
their formidable neighbours 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 indebted 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 which the realities of travel appear as extra-ordinary as the
incidents of romance, contain accounts of Ceylon equally interesting and
reliable.
MARCO POLO, who left Venice as a youth, in the year 1271, and resided
seventeen years at the court of Kubla 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 which he landed, but he calls the
king _Sender-naz,_ a name which may possibly be identified with the
Malay Chandra-banu, who twice invaded the island during the reign of
Pandita Prakrama-bahu III.[1]
[Footnote 1: Pandita Prakrama Bahoo III. was also called Kalikalla
Saahitya Sargwajnya,--TURNOUR'S _Epitome_, p. 44.]
He repeats the former exaggerated account as to the dimensions of
Ceylon; he says that it was believed to have been anciently larger
still, and he shows incidentally that as early as the thirteenth
century, the Arab sailors possessed charts of the island which they used
in navigating the Indian seas.[1] Then, as now, the universal costume of
the Singhalese was the cotton "comboy," worn only on the lower half of
the body[2], their grains were sesamum and rice; their food the latter
with milk and flesh-meat; and their drink coco-nut toddy, which Marco
calls "wine drawn from 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 life, 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.
[Footnote 1: I have seen with the sailors of the Maldives, who resort to
Ceylon at the present day, charts evidently copied from very ancient
originals.]
[Footnote 2: See the drawing, page 612.]
The next Venetian whose travels qualified him to speak of Ceylon was the
Minorite friar ODORIC, of Portenau in Friuli[1], who, setting out from
the Black Sea in 1318, traversed the Asian continent to China, and
returned to Italy after a journey of twelve years. In Ceylon he was
struck by the number of serpents, 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 believed, a fountain;"
but this Odoric discovered to be a delusion, as he saw the spring
gushing 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 inhabitants of the
island, were harmless to strangers. In that island Odoric saw "birds
with two heads," which possibly implies that he saw the hornbill[2],
whose huge and double casque may explain the expression.
[Footnote 1: _Itinerarium_ Fratris ODORICI de Foro Julii de
Portu-Vahonis.]
[Footnote 2: _Buceros Pica_. See _ante_, Part II. ch. ii. p. 167.]
In the succeeding century[1] the most authentic account of Ceylon is
given by NICOLO DI CONTI, another Venetian, who, though of noble family,
had settled as a merchant at Damascus, whence he had travelled over
Persia, India, the Eastern Archipelago, and China. Returning by way of
Arabia and the Red 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 besought the pardon
of Pope Eugenius IV., who absolved him from guilt on condition that he
should recount his adventures to the apostolic secretary, Poggio
Bracciolini, by whom they have been preserved in his dissertation on
"_The Vicissitudes of Fortune_."[2]
[Footnote 1: Among the writers on India in the 14th century, A.D. 1323,
was the Dominican missionary JOURDAIN CATALANI, or "Jordan de Severac,"
regarding whose title of _Bishop of Colombo_, "Episcopus Columbensis,"
it is somewhat uncertain whether his see was in Ceylon, or at Coulam
(Quilon), on the Malabar coast. The probability in favour of the latter
is sustained by the fact of the very limited accounts of the island
contained in his _Mirabilia_, a work in which he has recorded his
observations 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 king, suspended round his neck,
and the other which, when grasped in the hand could not be covered, by
the fingers, "Non credo mundum habere universum tales duo lapides, nec
tanti pretii." The MS. of Fra. JORDANUS'S _Mirabilia_ has been printed
in the _Recueil des Voyages_ of the Société Géogr. of Paris, vol. i. p.
49. GIOVANNI DE MARIGNOLA, a Florentine and Legate of Clement VI.,
landed in Ceylon in 1349 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-Joan_, "pessimus Saracenus." The legate's attention was
chiefly directed to "the mountain opposite Paradise."--DOBNER, _Monum.
Histor. Boemiæ._ Pragæ, 1764-85.
JOHN OF HESSE in his "Itinerary" (in which occurs the date A.D. 1398)
says, "Adsunt et in quâdam insulâ nomine Taprobanes viri crudelissimi et
moribus asperi: permagnas habent aures, et illas plurimis gemmis ornare
dicuntur. _Hi carnes humanas pro summis deliciis comedunt_."--JOHANNIS
DE HESSE, Presbyteri _Itinerarium_, etc.]
[Footnote 2: _De Varietate Fortunæ_, Basil, 1538. An admirable
translation of the narrative of DI CONTI has recently been made by R.H.
Major, Esq., for the Hakluyt Society. London, 1857.]
Di Conti is, I believe, 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 resembles our thick willows, excepting
that the branches do not grow upwards, but spread horizontally; 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 berries 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."[1]
[Footnote 1: 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 evidently an amplification of his own, borrowed from the passage
in which Pliny (whom Poggio elsewhere quotes) alludes to the fabulous
Lake Megisba.--PLINY, lib. vi. ch. xxiv.]
The narrative of Di Conti, as it is printed by Ramusio, 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 electrifying, produces a
fever so long as it is held in the hand, relief being instantaneous on
letting it go.[1]
[Footnote 1: DI CONTI in _Ramusio_, vol. i. p. 344. There are two other
Italian travellers of this century who touched at Ceylon; one a
"GENTLEMAN OF FLORENCE," whose story is printed by Ramusio (but without
the author's name), who accompanied Vasco de Gama, in the year 1479, in
his voyage to Calicut, and who speaks of the trees "che fanno la canella
in molta perfettione."--Vol. i. p. 120. The other is GIROLAMO DI SANTO
STEFANO, a Genoese, who, in pursuit of commerce, made a journey to India
which he described on his return in 1499, in a letter inserted by
Ramusio 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.]
The sixteenth century was prolific in navigators, the accounts of whose
adventures served to diffuse throughout Europe a general knowledge of
Ceylon, at least as it was known superficially before the arrival of the
Portuguese. Ludovico Barthema, or Varthema, a Bolognese[1], remained at
a port on the west coast[2] for some days in 1506. The four kings of the
island being busily engaged in civil war[3], 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 delicious and
abundant, especially artichokes and oranges[4], but rice was so
insufficiently cultivated that the sovereigns of the island were
dependent for their supplies upon the King of Narsingha, on the
continent of India.[5] This statement of Barthema is without
qualification; there can be little 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.
[Footnote 1: _Itinerario de_ LUDOVICO DE VARTHEMA, _Bolognese, no lo
Egypto, ne la Suria, ne la Arabia Deserta e Felice, ne la Persia, ne la
India, e ne la, Æthiopia--la fede el vivere e costume de tutte le
prefatte provincie._ Roma. 1511, A.D.]
[Footnote 2: Probably Colombo.]
[Footnote 3: These conflicts and the actors in them are described in the
_Rajavali_, p. 274.]
[Footnote 4: "Carzofoli megliori che li nostri, melangoli dolci, li
megiiori credo, che siano nel mondo."--_Varthema_, pt. xxvii.]
[Footnote 5: "In questo paese non nasce riso; ma ne li viene da terra
ferma. Li re de quella isola sono tributarii d'il re de Narsinga per
repetto del riso."--_Itin_., pt. xxvii. See also BARBOSA, in _Ramusio_,
vol. i p. 312.]
Barthema found the supply of cinnamon small, and so precarious that the
cutting took place but once in three years. The Singhalese were at that
time ignorant of the use of gunpowder[1], 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
consequence of a hint that payment would be regulated by the royal
discretion, the Italians weighed anchor at nightfall and bade a sudden
adieu to Ceylon.
[Footnote 1: The _Rajavali_, p. 279, describes the wonder of the
Singhalese on witnessing 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."]
Early in the sixteenth century, ODOARDO BARBOSA, 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[1], 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 Corsali[2], he speaks of
that "grandest and most lovely island, which the Moors of Arabia,
Persia, and Syria call Zeilam, but the Indians, _Tenarisim_, or the
_land of delights_." Its ports were crowded with Moors, who monopolised
commerce, and its inhabitants, whose complexions were fair and their
stature robust and stately, were altogether devoted to pleasure and
indifferent to arms.
[Footnote 1: _Il Sommario delle Inde Orientale di_ ODOARDO BARBOSA,
Lisbon, 1519. A sketch of the life of BARBOSA is given in CRAWFURD'S
_Dictionary of the Indian Islands_, p. 39.]
[Footnote 2: Two letters written by ANDREA CORSALI, a Florentine, dated
from Cochin, A.D. 1515, and addressed to the Grand Duke Julian de
Medicis.]
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 their
shoulders; of the upper parts of their bodies exposed, but the lower
portions enveloped in silks and rich cloths, secured by an embroidered
girdle. He describes their language as a mixture of Arabic and Malabar,
and states that numbers of their co-religionists from the Indian coast
resorted constantly to Ceylon, and established themselves there as
traders, attracted by the delights of the climate, and the luxury and
abundance of the island, but above all by the unlimited freedom which
they enjoyed under its government. The duration of life was longer in
Ceylon than in any country of India. With a profusion of fruits of every
kind, and of animals fit for food, grain alone was deficient; rice was
largely imported from the Coromandel coast, and sugar from 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 cats-eye, according to Barbosa, was as highly valued as
the ruby by the dealers in India; and the rubies themselves were
preferred to those of Pegu on account of their density[1]; but, compared
with those of Ava, they were inferior in colour, a defect which the
Moors were skilled in correcting by the of fire.
[Footnote 1: CESARE DE FREDERICI, a Venetian merchant, whose travels in
India, A.D. 1563, have been translated by HICKOCKE, says 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.]
The residence of the King was at "Colmucho" (Colombo), whither vessels
coming for elephants, cinnamon, and gems brought fine cloths from
Cambay, together with saffron, coral, quicksilver, vermilion, and
specie, and above all silver, which was more in demand than all the
rest.
Such is the sum of intelligence 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[1], and when the occupation of the
latter was withdrawn, the adventures of the other were suspended. The
vessels of the strangers, in a very few years after their first
appearance in the Indian seas, began to divert from its accustomed
channel, the stream of commerce which for so many ages had flowed in the
direction of the Red Sea and the Persian Gulf; and the galleons of
Portugal superseded the caravans of Arabia and the argosies of Venice.
[Footnote 1: CÆSAR, FREDERICK opens the account of his wanderings in
India, A.D. 1563, as follows:--"Having for the space of eighteen years
continually coasted and travelled in many countries beyond the Indies,
_wherein I have had both good and ill success in my travels"_ &c. He may
be regarded as the last of the merchant voyagers of Venice, His book was
translated into English almost simultaneously with its appearance in
Italian, under the title of "_The Voyages and Travaile of M. Cæsar
Fredrick, Merchant of Venice, into the East Indies, and beyond the
Indies,_ written at sea, in the Hercules of London, the 25th March,
1588, and translated out of Italian by Mr. THOMAS HICKOCKE, 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
describes almost as it is practised at the present time. The divers
engaged in it were all Christians (see _Christianity in Ceylon,_ ch. i.
p. 11), under the care of friars 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 moneth 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 particulars of the
process of peeling cinnamon, as it is still practised by the Chalias.]
In his dismay the Sultan of Egypt threatened to demolish 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 destroyed 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 consummate the desolation of Egypt by diverting the Nile
to the Red Sea, across Nubia or Abyssinia![1]
[Footnote 1: DARU, _Hist, de Venise,_ lib. xix. p. 114. RAYNAL, _Hist.
des Deux Indes_, vol. i. p. 156. FARIA Y SOUZA, _Portug. Asia_, pt. i.
ch. viii. vol i. pp. 64, 83, 107, 137.]
But the catastrophe was inevitable; the rich freights of India and China
were 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.
END OF THE FIRST VOLUME.