Chapter I (2)

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

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

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

The gifts sent by the king of Magadha in return, indicate the advanced state of the arts in Bengal, even at that early period: they were "a chowrie (the royal fly flapper), a diadem, a sword of state, a royal parasol, golden slippers, a crown, an anointing vase, asbestos towels, to be cleansed by being passed through the fire, a costly howdah, and sundry vessels of gold." Along with these was sacred water from the Anotatto lake and from the Ganges, aromatic and medicinal drugs, hill paddi and sandal-wood; and amongst the other items "a virgin of royal birth and of great personal beauty."[1]

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

_Early Imports_.--Down to a very late period, gems, pearls, and chank shells continued to be the only products taken away from Ceylon, and cinnamon is nowhere mentioned in the Sacred Books as amongst the exports of the island.[1] In return for these exports, slaves, chariots, and horses were frequently transmitted from India. The riding horses and chargers, so often spoken of[2], must necessarily have been introduced from thence, and were probably of Arab blood; but I have not succeeded in discovering to what particular race the "Sindhawa" horses belonged, of which four purely white were harnessed to the state carriage of Dutugaimunu.[3] Gold cloth[4], frankincense, and sandal-wood were brought from India[5], as was also a species of "clay" and of "cloud-coloured stone," which appear to have been used in the construction of dagobas.[6] Silk[7] and vermilion[8] indicate the activity of trade with China; and woollen cloth[9] and carpets[10] with Persia and Kashmir.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

[Footnote 10: _Mahawanso_, ch. xiv. p. 82; ch. xv. p. 87; ch. xxv. p. 151; carpets of wool, _ib_. ch. xxvii. p. 164.]

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

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

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

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

[Footnote 4: "La communication entre Kachmir et Ceylan n'a pas eu lieu seulement par les entreprises guerrières que je viens de rappeler, mais aussi par un commerce paisible; c'est du cette ile que venaient des artistes qu'on appelait Rakchasas à cause du merveilleux de leur art; et qui exécutaient des ouvrages pour l'utilité et pour l'ornement d'un pays montagneux et sujet aux inondations. Ceci confirme ce que nous apprennent les géographes Grecs, que Ceylan, avant et après le commencement de notre ère, était un grand point de réunion pour le commerce de l'Orient et de l'Occident."--_Rajatarangini_, vol. ii. p. 434.]

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

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

Edrisi did not write from personal knowledge, as he had never visited either Ceylon or India; but compiling as he did, by command of Roger H., of Sicily, a compendium, of geographical knowledge as it existed in his time, the information which he has systematised may be regarded as a condensation of such facts as the eastern seamen engaged in the Indian trade had brought back with them from Ceylon.

"In the mountains around Adam's Peak," says Edrisi, "they collect precious stones of every description, and in the valleys they find those diamonds by means of which they engrave the setting of stones on rings."

"The same mountains produce aromatic drugs perfumes, and aloes-wood, and there too they find the animal, the civet, which yields musk. The islanders cultivate rice, coco-nuts, and sugar-cane; in the rivers is found rock crystal, remarkable both for brilliancy and size, and the sea on every side has a fishery of magnificent and priceless pearls. Throughout India there is no prince whose wealth can compare with the King of Serendib, his immense riches, his pearls and his jewels, being the produce of his own dominions and seas; and thither ships of China, and of every neighbouring country resort, bringing the wines of Irak and Fars, which the king buys for sale to his subjects; for he drinks wine and prohibits debauchery; whilst other princes of India encourage debauchery and prohibit the use of wine. The exports from Serendib consist of silk, precious stones, crystals, diamonds, and perfumes."[1]

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

CHAP. IV.

MANUFACTURES.

The silk alluded to in the last chapter must have been brought from China for re-exportation to the West. Silk is frequently mentioned in the _Mahawanso_[1] but never with any suggestion of its being a native product of Ceylon.

[Footnote 1: Silk is mentioned 20 B.C. _Rajaratnacari_, p. 49. _Mahawanso_, ch. xxiii. p. 139.]

_Coir and Cordage._--EDRISI speaks of cordage made from the fibre of the coco-nut, to prepare which, the natives of Oman and Yemen resorted to Ceylon[1]; so that the Singhalese would appear to have been instructed by the Arabs in the treatment of coir, and its formation into ropes; an occupation which, at the present day, affords extensive employment to the inhabitants of the south and south-western coasts. Ibn Batuta describes the use of coir, for sewing together the planking of boats, as it was practised at Zafar in the fourteenth century[2]; and the word itself bespeaks its Arabian origin, as ALBYROUNI, who divides the Maldives and Laccadives into two classes, calls the one group the _Dyvah-kouzah_, or islands that produce _cowries_; and the other the _Dyvah-kanbar_, or islands that produce _coir_.[3]

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

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

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

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

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

The wealthier classes indulged in flowing robes, and Bujas Dasa the king, who in the fourth century devoted himself to the study of medicine and the cure of the sick, was accustomed, when seeking objects for his compassion, to appear as a common person, simply "disguising himself by gathering his cloth up between his legs."[1] Robes with flowers[2], and a turban of silk, constituted the dress of state bestowed on men whom the king delighted to honour.[3] Cloth of gold is spoken of in the fifth century, but the allusion is probably made to the kinbaub of India.[4]

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

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

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

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

MANUAL AND MECHANICAL ARTS. _Weaving_.--The aborigines practised the art of weaving before the arrival of Wijayo. Kuweni, when the adventurer approached her, was "seated at the foot of a tree, spinning thread;"[1] cotton was the ordinary material, but "linen cloth" is mentioned in the second century before Christ.[2] White cloths are spoken of as having been employed, in the earliest times, in every ceremony for covering chairs on which persons of rank were expected to be seated; whole "webs of cloth" were used to wrap the _carandua_ in which the sacred relics were enclosed[3], and one of the kings, on the occasion of consecrating a dagoba at Mihintala, covered with "white cloth" the road taken by the procession between the mountain and capital, a distance of more than seven miles.[4]

[Footnote 1: _Mahawanso_, ch. vii. p.48; _Rajavali_, p.173.]

[Footnote 2: _Mahawanso_, ch, xxv. p.152.]

[Footnote 3: _Rajaratnacari_, p.72.]

[Footnote 4: A.D. 8. _Rajavali,_ p. 227; _Mahawanso_, ch. xxxiv. p. 213.]

In later times a curious practice prevailed, which exists to the present day;--on occasions when it is intended to make offerings of yellow robes to the priesthood, the cotton was plucked from the tree at daybreak, and "cleaned, spun, woven, dyed, and made into garments" before the setting of the sun. This custom, called _Catina Dhawna,_ is first referred to in the _Rajaratnacari_ in the reign of Prakrarna I.[1], A.D. 1153.

[Footnote 1: See _ante_, Vol. II p. 35. _Rajaratnacari_, pp. 104, 109, 112, 135; _Rajavali_, p. 261; HARDY'S _Eastern Monachism_, ch. xii. pp. 114, 121.]

The expression "made into garments" alludes to the custom enjoined on the priests of having the value of the material destroyed, before consenting to accept it as a gift, thus carrying out their vow of poverty. The robe of Gotama Buddha was cut into thirty pieces, these were again united, so that they "resembled the patches of ground in a rice field;" and hence he enjoined on his followers the observance of the same practice.[1]

[Footnote 1: HARDY'S _Eastern Monachism,_ ch. xii. p. 117. See _ante_, Vol. I. Pt. III. ch. iv. p. 351.]

The arts of bleaching and dyeing were understood as well as that of weaving, and the _Mahawanso_, in describing the building of the Ruanwellé dagoba, at Anarajapoora, B.C. 161, tells of a canopy formed of "eight thousand pieces of cloth of every hue."[1]

[Footnote 1: _Mahawanso_, ch. xxx. p. 179, See also ch. xxxviii. p. 258.]

_Earliest Artisans._--VALENTYN, writing on the traditional information acquired from the Singhalese themselves, records the belief of the latter, that in the suite of the Pandyan princess, who arrived to marry Wijayo, were artificers from Madura, who were the first to introduce the knowledge and practice of handicrafts amongst the native population. According to the story, these were goldsmiths, blacksmiths, brass-founders, carpenters, and stone-cutters.[1]

[Footnote 1: VALENTYN, _Oud en Niew Oost-Indien_, chap. iv. p. 267.]

The legend is given with more particularity in an historical notice of the Chalia caste, written by Adrian Rajapaxa, one of their chiefs, who describes these immigrants as Peskare Brahmans, who were at first employed in weaving gold tissues for the queen, but who afterwards abandoned that art for agriculture. A fresh company were said to have been invited in the reign of Devenipiatissa, and were the progenitors of "Saleas, at present called Chalias," who inhabit the country between Galle and Colombo, and who, along with their ostensible occupation as peelers of cinnamon, still employ themselves in the labours of the loom.[1] All handicrafts are conventionally regarded by the Singhalese as the occupations of an inferior class; and a man of high caste would submit to any privation rather than stoop to an occupation dependent on manual skill.

[Footnote 1: A History of the Chalias, by ADRIAN RAJAPAXA. _Asiatic Res_. vol. vii. p. 440. _Ib_., vol. x. p. 82.]

_Pottery_.--One of the most ancient arts, the making of earthenware vessels, exists at the present day in all its pristine simplicity, and the "potter's wheel," which is kept in motion by an attendant, whilst the hands of the master are engaged in shaping the clay as it revolves, is the primitive device which served a similar purpose amongst the Egyptians and Hebrews.[1]

[Footnote 1: Pottery is mentioned in the _Mahawanso_, B.C. 161, ch. xxix. p. 173: the allusion is to "new earthen vases," and shows that the people at that time, like the Hindus of today, avoided where possible the repeated use of the same vessel.]

A "potter" is enumerated in the list of servants and tradesmen attached to the temple on the Rock of Mihintala, A.D. 262, along with a sandal-maker, blacksmiths, carpenters, stone-cutters, goldsmiths, and "makers of strainers" through which the water for the priests was filtered, to avoid taking away the life of animalculæ. The other artisans on the establishment were chiefly those in charge of the buildings, lime-burners, plasterers, white-washers, painters, and a chief builder.

_Glass_.--Glass, the knowledge of which existed in Egypt and in India[1], was introduced into Ceylon at an early period; and in the _Dipawanso_, a work older than the _Mahawanso_ by a century and a half, it is stated that Saidaitissa, the brother of Dutugaimunu, when completing the Ruanwellé dagoba, which his predecessor had commenced, surmounted it with a "glass pinnacle." This was towards the end of the second century before Christ. Glass is frequently mentioned at later periods; and a "glass mirror" is spoken of[2] in the third century before Christ, but how made, whether by an amalgam of quicksilver or by colouring the under surface, is not recorded.

[Footnote 1: Dr. ROYLE'S _Lectures on the Arts and Manufactures of India_, 1852, p. 221. PLINY says the glass of India being made of pounded crystal, none other can compare with it. (Lib. xxxvi, c. 66.)]

[Footnote 2: _Mahawanso_, ch. xv. p. 99, ch. xxx. p. 182.]

_Leather_.--The tanning of leather from the hide of the buffalo was understood so far back as the second century before Christ, and "coverings both for the back and the feet of elephants" were then formed of it.[1]

[Footnote 1: _Ibid_., ch. xxv. p. 152, ch. xxix. p. 169.]

_Wood-carving_.--Carving in sandal-wood and inlaying with ivory, of which latter material "state fans and thrones" were constructed for the Brazen Palace[1], are amongst the mechanical arts often alluded to; and during the period of prosperity which signalised the era of the "Great Dynasty," there can be little doubt that skilled artificers were brought from India to adorn the cities and palaces of Ceylon.

[Footnote 1: _Ibid_., ch. xxvii. p. 163, 164.]

_Chemical Arts_.--A rude knowledge of chemical manipulation was required for the extraction of camphor[1] and the preparation of numerous articles specified amongst the productions of the island, aromatic oils[2], perfumes[3], and vegetable dyes.

[Footnote 1: _Rajaratnacari_, p. 133. Dr. ROYLE doubts whether camphor was known to the Hindus at this early period, but "camphor oil" is repeatedly mentioned in the Singhalese chronicles amongst the articles provided for the temples.--ROYLE'S _Essay on Hindoo Medicine_, p. 140; _Rajaculi_, p. 190.]

[Footnote 2: _Mahawanso_, ch. xxv. p. 157.]

[Footnote 3: B.C. 161. _Mahawanso_, ch. xxx. p. 180.]

_Sugar_.--Sugar was obtained not only from the Palmyra and Kittool palms[1], but also from the cane; which, besides being a native of India, was also indigenous in Ceylon.[2] A "sugar mill" for expressing its juice existed in the first century before Christ in the district of the "Seven Corles,"[3] where fifteen hundred years afterwards a Dutch governor of the island made an attempt to restore the cultivation of sugar.

[Footnote 1: "Palm sugar," as distinguished from "cane sugar," is spoken of in the _Mahawanso_ in the second century B.C. ch. xxvii. p. 163.]

[Footnote 2: "Cane sugar" is referred to in the _Mahawanso_ B.C. 161, ch. xxvii. p. 162, ch. xxxi. p. 192.]

[Footnote 3: A.D. 77. _Mahawanso_, ch. xxxiv. p. 208.]

_Mineral Paints_.--Mineral preparations were made with success. Red lead, orpiment, and vermilions are mentioned as pigments; but as it is doubtful whether Ceylon produces quicksilver, the latter was probably imported from. China[1] or India, where the method of preparing it has long been known.

[Footnote 1: See _ante_, Vol. I. Part I. ch. i. p. 29. n. Both quicksilver and vermilion are mentioned in the _Rajaratnacari_, p. 51, as being in use in the year 20 B.C. Vermilion is also spoken of B.C. 307 in the _Mahawanso_, ch. xxvii. p. 162, c. The two passages in which _vermilion_ is spoken of in the Old Testament, Jerem. xxii. 14, and Ezek. xxiii. 14, both refer to the painting of walls and woodwork, a purpose to which it would be scarcely suitable, were not the article alluded to the opaque bisulphuret of mercury; and the same remark applies to the vermilion used by the Singhalese. The bright red obtained from the insect coccus (the _vermiculus_, whence the original term "vermilion" is said to be derived) would be too transparent to be so applied.]

There is likewise sufficient evidence in these and a number of other preparations, as well in the notices of perfumes, camphor, and essential oils, to show that the Singhalese, like the Hindus, had a very early acquaintance with chemical processes and with the practice of distillation, which they retain to the present day.[1] The knowledge of the latter they probably acquired from the Arabs or Chinese.

[Footnote 1: "I was frequently visited by one old man, a priest, who had travelled through Bengal, Burmah, Siam, and many other countries, and who prided himself on being able _to make calomel_ much better than the European doctors, as his preparation did not cause the falling out of the teeth, soreness of the mouth, or salivation. He learnt the secret from an ancient sage whom he met with in a forest on the continent of India; and often when listening to him I was reminded of the mysteries and crudities of the alchemists."--HARDY'S _Eastern Monachism_, Lond. 1850, ch. xxiii. p. 312.]

CHAP. V.

WORKING IN METALS.

METALS. _Iron_.--Working in metals was early understood in Ceylon. Abundance of iron ore can be extracted from the mountains round Adam's Peak; the black oxide is found on the eastern shore in the state of iron-sand; and both are smelted with comparative ease by the natives. Iron tools were in use for the dressing of stones; and in the third century before Christ, the enclosed city of Wijittapoora was secured by an "iron gate." [1]

[Footnote 1: _Mahawanso_, ch. xxv. p. 152.]

_Steel_.--The manufacture of arms involved the use of steel, the method of tempering which was derived from the Hindus, by whom the _wootz_ was prepared, of which, the genuine blades of Damascus are shown to have been made, the beauty of their figuring being dependent on its peculiar crystallisation. Ezekiel enumerates amongst the Indian imports of Tyre "_bright iron_, calamus and cassia."[1]

[Footnote 1: ROYLE _on the Antiquity of Hindoo Medicine_, p. 98. EZEKIEL, ch. xxvii. 19.]

_Copper_.--Copper was equally in demand, but, like silver and gold, it is nowhere alluded to as a production of the island. In ancient, as in modern, times, therefore, the numerous articles formed from this metal were probably imported from India. The renowned Brazen. Palace of Anarajapoora was so named from the quantity of copper used in its construction. Bujas Raja, A.D. 359, covered a building at Attanagalla with "tiles made of copper, and gilt with gold,"[1] and "two boats built of brass," were placed near the Bo-Tree at the capital "to hold food for the priests."[2] Before the Christian era, armour for elephants[3], and vessels of large dimensions, cauldrons[4], and baths[5], were formed of copper. The same material was used for the lamps, goblets[6], kettles, and cooking utensils of the monasteries and wiharas.

[Footnote 1: _Rajaratnacari_, p. 73.]

[Footnote 2: _Ibid_., p. 60.]

[Footnote 3: _Rajavali_, p. 214.]

[Footnote 4: B.C. 204. _Rajavali_, p. 190.]

[Footnote 5: A.D. 1267, _Rajartnacari_, p. 104.]

[Footnote 6: _Rajaratnacari_, pp. 104, 134.]

_Bells_.--Bells were hung in the palaces[1], and bell-metal is amongst the gifts to the temples recorded on the rock at Pollanarrua, A.D. 1187.[2]

[Footnote 1: _Mahawanso_, ch. xxi. pp. 128, 129.]

[Footnote 2: TURNOUR'S _Epitome, &c.,_ Appx. p. 91.]

_Bronze_.--Bronze was cast into figures of Buddha[1], and the _Mahawanso_, describing the reign of Dhatu-Sena, A.D. 459, makes mention of "sixteen bronze statues of virgins having the power of locomotion."[2]

[Footnote 1: A.D. 275. _Mahawanso_, ch. xxxvii. p. 236; _Rajavali_, p. l35.]

[Footnote 2: _Mahawanso_, ch. xxxviii. p. 257.]

_Lead_.--Lead was used during the wars of Dutugaimunu and Elala, and poured molten over the attacking elephants during the siege of Wijittapoora.[1] As lead is not a native product of Ceylon, it must have been brought thither from Ava or Malwa.

[Footnote 1: _Mahawanso_, ch. xxv. p. 152.]

_Gold and Silver._--Ceylon, like the continent of India, produces no silver and gold, save in the scantiest quantities.[1] The historical books, in recording the splendour of the temples and their riches, and the wealth lavished by the kings upon the priesthood, describe in perpetually recurring terms, the multitude of ornaments and vessels made of silver and gold. In early times the most precious of these were received as gifts from the princes of India, and in the second century before Christ the _Mahawanso_ records the arrival of ships in the south of the island, "laden with golden utensils." The import of these might possibly have been a relic of the early trade with the Phoenicians, whom Homer, in a passage quoted by Strabo (l. xvi. c. 2. s. 24.), describes as making these cups, and carrying across the sea for sale in the great emporiums visited by these ships.[2] A variety of articles of silver are spoken of at very early periods. Dutugaimunu, when building the great dagoba, caused the circle of its base to be described by "a pair of compasses made of silver, and pointed with gold;"[3] parasols, vases, caranduas and numerous other regal or religious paraphernalia, were made from this precious material. Gold was applied in every possible form and combination to the decoration and furnishing of the edifices of Buddhism;--"trees of gold with roots of coral,"[4] flowers formed of gems with stems of silver[5], fringes of bullion mixed with pearls; umbrellas, shields, chains, and jewelled statuettes[6], are described with enthusiasm by the annalists of the national worship.

[Footnote 1: Amongst the miracles which signalised the construction of the Ruanwellé dagoba at Anarajapoora was the sudden appearance in a locality to the north-east of the capital of "sprouts" of gold above and below the ground, and of silver in the vicinity of Adam's Peak.--_Mahawanso_, ch. xxviii. pp. 166, 167.]

[Footnote 2: _Mahawanso_, ch. xxii. p. 153. [Greek]--Iliad, xxiii. 745.]

[Footnote 3: _Mahawanso_, ch. xxx. p. 172.]

[Footnote 4: Red coral, equal in its delicacy of tint to the highly-prized specimens from the Mediterranean, is found in small fragments on the sea-shore north of Point-de-Galle.]

[Footnote 5: _Mahawanso_, ch. xxx. p. 179.]

[Footnote 6: _Mahawanso_, ib. p. 180.]

The abundance of precious stones naturally led to their being extensively mounted in jewelry, and in addition to those found in Ceylon, diamonds[1] and lapis lazuli [2] (which must have been brought thither from India and Persia) are classed with the sapphire and the topaz, which are natives of the island.

[Footnote 1: _Rajaratnacari_, p. 61.]

[Footnote 2: _Mahawanso_, ch. xxx. p. 182.]

The same passion existed then, as now, for covering the person with ornaments; gold, silver, and gems were fashioned into rings for the ears, the nose, the fingers, and toes, into plates for the forehead, and chains for the neck, into armlets, and bracelets, and anklets, and into decorations of every possible form, not only for the women, but for men, and, above all, for the children of both sexes. The poor, unable to indulge in the luxury of precious metals, found substitutes in shells and glass; and the extravagance of the taste was defended on the ground that their brilliancy served to avert the malignity of "the evil eye" from the wearer to the jewel.

_Gilding_.--Gilding was likewise understood by the Singhalese in all its departments, both as applied to the baser metals and to other substances--wood-work was gilded for preaching places[1] as was also copper for roofing, cement for decorating walls, and stone for statuary and carving.[2]

[Footnote 1: _Rajaratnacari_, p. 60.]

[Footnote 2: Rock inscription at Pollanarrua, A.D. 187--196.]

_Coin_.--Although the Singhalese through their sacred writings had a knowledge of coined money, and of its existence in India from a period little subsequent to the death of Gotama Buddha[1]; and although their annalists give the names of particular coins in circulation[2], at various times, no Singhalese money has yet been discovered of a date antecedent to the eleventh century. The Chinese in the fifteenth century spoke with admiration of the gold pieces struck by the kings of Ceylon, which they found in circulation on their frequent visits to the emporium at Galle[3]; but of these only a few very rare examples have been preserved, one of which bears the effigy and name of Lokaiswaira[4], who usurped the throne during a period of anarchy about A.D. 1070. Numbers of small copper coins of the eleventh and twelfth centuries have from time to time been dug up both in the interior and on the coast of the island[5]. A quantity of these which were found in 1848 by Lieutenant Evatt, when in command of a pioneer corps near the village of Ambogamoa, were submitted to Mr. Vaux of the British Museum, and prove to belong to the reign of Wijayo Bahu, A.D. 1071, Prakrama I., A.D. 1153, the Queen Lilawatte, A.D. 1197, King Sahasamallawa, A.D. 1200, Darmasoka, A.D. 1208, and Bhuwaneka Bahu, A.D. 1303. These coins have one and all the same device on the obverse,--a rude standing figure of the Raja holding the _trisula_ in his left hand, and a flower in the right. His dress is a flowing robe, the folds of which are indicated rather than imitated by the artist; and on the reverse the same figure is seated, the name in Nagari characters being placed beside the face[6].

[Footnote 1: The _Mahawanso_ mentions the existence of coined metals in India in the tenth year of the reign of Kalasoka, a century from the death of Buddha, ch. iv. p. 15. According to Hardy, in the most ancient laws of the Buddhists the distinction is recognised between coined money and bullion,--_Eastern Monachism,_ vol. vii. p. 66.]

[Footnote 2: The coins mentioned in the _Mahawanso, Rajaratnacari, and Rajavali_ are as follows: B.C. 161, the _kahapanan (Mahawanso_, ch. xxx. pp. 157, 175), which TURNOUR says was a gold coin worth ten _massakan_ or _massa_. The latter are "the pieces of gold formerly current in Ceylon," a heap of which, according to the _Rajaratnacari_ (p. 48), was seen by King Bhatia Tissa when he was permitted to penetrate into the chamber of the Ruanwellé dagoba, A.D. 137. The silver massa, according to TURNOUR, was valued at eightpence. These are repeatedly mentioned in the _Rajaratnacari_ (A.D. 201, p. 60, A.D. 234, p. 62, A.D. 1262, p. 102, A.D. 1301, p. 107, A.D. 1462, p. 113). The _Rajavali_ speaks of "gold massa" as in circulation in the time of Dutugaimunu, B.C. 161 (p. 201). The word _masa_ in Singhalese means "pulse," or any description of "beans;" and it seems not improbable that the origin of the term as applied to money may be traced to the practice in the early Indian coinage of stamping small _lumps_ of metal to give them authentic currency. It can only be a coincidence that the Roman term for an ingot of gold was "_massa_" (Pliny, L. xxxiii. c. 19). These Singhalese massa were probably similar to the "punched coins," having rude stamps without effigies, and rarely even with letters, which have been turned up at Kanooj, Oujein, and other places in Western India. A copper coin is likewise mentioned in the fourteenth century, in the _Rajavali_, where it is termed _carooshawpa_; the value of which UPHAM, without naming his authority, says was "about a pice and a half."--p. 136.]

[Footnote 3: _Woo hëö pëen_ "Records of the Ming Dynasty," A.D. 1522, B. lxviii. p. 5. _Suh Wan heen tung kaou_, "Antiquarian Researches," B. ccxxxvi. p. 11.]

[Footnote 4: Two gold coins of Lokaiswaira are in the collection of the British Museum, and will be found described by Mr. VAUX in the 16th vol. of the _Numismatic Chronicle_, p. 121.]

[Footnote 5: There is a Singhalese coin figured in DAVY'S _Ceylon_, p. 245, the legend on which is turned upside down, but when reversed it reads "_Sri Pa-re-kra-ma Bahu_."]

[Footnote 6: _Numismatic Chronicle_, vol. xvi. p. 124]

The Kandyans, by whom these coins are frequently found, give the copper pieces the name of Dambedenia _challies_, and tradition, with perfect correctness, assigns them to the twelfth and thirteenth centuries, when the kings of that period are believed to have had a mint at Dambedenia.

A quantity of coins similar in every respect to those dug up in Ceylon have been found at Dipaldinia or Amarawati, on the continent of India, near the mouth of the Kistna; a circumstance which might be accounted for by the frequent intercourse between Ceylon and the coast, but which is possibly referable to the fact recorded in the _Mahawanso_ that Prakrama I., after his successful expedition against the King of Pandya, caused money to be coined in his own name before retiring to Ceylon.[1]

[Footnote 1: _Mahawanso_, ch. lxxvi. pp. 298, 299, UPHAM's _Trans_. The circumstance is exceedingly curious of coins of Prakrama, "identical" with those found at Dambedenia, in Ceylon, having also been discovered at Dipaldinia, on the opposite continent; and it goes far to confirm the accuracy of the _Mahawanso_ as to the same king having coined money in both places. Those found in the latter locality form part of the Mackenzie Collection, and have been figured in the _Asiat. Researches_, xvii. 597, and afterwards by Mr. PRINSEP in the _Journ. of the Asiat. Soc. of Bengal_, vi. 301. See also a notice of Ceylon coins, in the _Journ. As. Soc. Beng._ iv. 673, vi. 218; CASIE CHITTY, in the _Journ. of the Ceylon Asiat. Soc.,_ 1847, p. 9, has given an account of a hoard of copper coins found at Calpentyn in 1839; and Mr. Justice STARKE, in the same journal, p. 149, has given a _resumé_ of the information generally possessed as to the ancient coins of the island. PRINSEP's paper on _Ceylon Coins_ will be found in vol. i. of the recent reprint of his _Essays on Indian Antiquities_, p. 419. Lond. 1858.]

_Hook-money_.--No ancient silver coin has yet been found, but specimens are frequently brought to light of the _ridis_, pieces of twisted silver wire, which from their being sometimes bent with a considerable curve have been called "_Fish-hook money_." These are occasionally impressed with a legend, and for a time the belief obtained that they were a variety of ring-money peculiar to Ceylon.[1] Of late this error has been corrected; the letters where they occur have been shown to be not Singhalese or Sanskrit, but Persian, and the tokens themselves have been proved to belong to Laristan on the Persian Gulf, from the chief emporium of which, Gambroon, they were brought to Ceylon in the course of Indian commerce; chiefly by the Portuguese, who are stated by VAN CARDAEN to have introduced them in great quantities into Cochin and the ports of Malabar.[2] There they were circulated so freely that an edict of Prakrama enumerates the _ridi_ amongst the coins in which the taxes were assessed on land.[3]

[Footnote 1: This error may be traced to the French commentator on RIBEYRO's _History of Ceylon_, who describes the fish-hook money in use in the kingdom of Kandy, whilst the Portuguese held the low country, as so simple in its form that every man might make it for himself: "Le Roy de Candy avoit aussi permis á ses peuples de se servir d'une _monnoye_ que chacun peut fabriquer."--Ch. x. p. 81.]

[Footnote 2: "Les larins sont tout-à-fait commodes et nécessaires dans les Indes, surtout pour acheter du poivre à Cochin, où l'on en fait grand état."--_Voyage aux Indes Orientales._ Amsterdam, A.D. 1716, vol. vi. p. 626.]

[Footnote 3: Rock-inscription at Dambool, A.D. 1200. The _Rajavali_ mentions the _ridis_ as in circulation in Ceylon at the period of the arrival of the Portuguese, A.D. 1505.--P. 278.]

In India they are called _larins_, and money in imitation of them, struck by the princes of Bijapur and by Sivaji, the founder of the Mahrattas, was in circulation in the Dekkan as late as the seventeenth century.[1]

[Footnote 1: Prof. WILSON'S _Remarks on Fish-hook Money, Numism. Chronic._ 1854, p. 181.]

CHAP. VI.

ENGINEERING.

It has already been shown[1] that the natives of Ceylon received their earliest instruction in engineering from the Brahmans, who attached themselves to the followers of Wijayo and his immediate successors.[2] But whilst astonished at the vastness of conception observable in the works executed at this early period, we are equally struck by the extreme simplicity of the means employed by their designers for carrying their plans into execution; and the absence of all ingenious expedients for husbanding or effectively applying manual labour. The earth which forms their prodigious embankments was carried in baskets[3] by the labourers, in the same primitive fashion which prevails to the present day. Stones were detached in the quarry by the slow and laborious process of wedging, of which they still exhibit the traces; and those intended for prominent positions were carefully dressed with iron tools. For moving them no mechanical contrivances were resorted to[4], and it can only have been by animal power, aided by ropes and rollers, that vast blocks like the great tablet at Pollanarrua were dragged to their required positions.[5]

[Footnote 1: See Vol. I. Part IV. chap. ii. p. 430.]

[Footnote 2: King Pandukábhaya, B.C. 437, "built a residence for the Brahman Jótiyo, the chief engineer."--_Mahawanso_, ch. x. p. 66.]

[Footnote 3: _Mahawanso_, ch. xxiii. p. 144.]

[Footnote 4: The only instance of mechanism applied in aid of human labour is referred to in a passage of the _Mahawanso_, which alludes to a decree for "raising the water of the Abhaya tank by means of machinery," in order to pour it over a dagoba during the solemnisation of a festival, B.C. 20.--_Mahawanso_, ch. xxxiv. p. 211; _Rajaratnacari_, p. 51.]

[Footnote 5: No document is better calculated to Impress the reader with a due appreciation of the indomitable perseverance of the Singhalese in works of engineering than the able report of Messrs. ADAMS, CHURCHILL, and BAILEY, on the great _Canal from Ellahara to Gantalawa_, appended to the Ceylon Calendar for 1857.]

_Fortifications_.--Of military engineering the Singhalese had a very slight knowledge. Walled towns and fortifications are frequently spoken of, but the ascertained difficulty of raising, squaring, or carrying stones, points to the inference which is justified by the expressions of the ancient chronicles, that the walls they allude to, must have been earthworks[1], and that the strength of their fortified places consisted in their inaccessibility. The first recorded attempt at fortification was made by the Malabars in the second century before Christ for the defence of Wijitta-poora, which is described as having been secured by walls, a fosse, and a gate.[2] Elala about the same period built "thirty-two bulwarks" at Anarajapoora[3]; and Dutugaimunu, in commencing to besiege him in the city, followed his example, by throwing up a "fortification in an open plain," at a spot well provided with wood and water.[4]

[Footnote 1: Makalantissa, who reigned B.C. 41, "built a rampart seven cubits high, and dug a ditch round the capital."--_Mahawanso_, ch. xxxiv. p. 210.]

[Footnote 2: _Rajavali_, p. 212; _Mahawanso_, ch. xxv. p. 151.]

[Footnote 3: _Rajavali_, p. 187.]

[Footnote 4: _Rajavali_, p. 216; _Mahawanso_ ch. xxv. p. 152.]

At a later time, the Malabars, when in possession of the northern portion of the island, formed a chain of strong "forts" from the eastern to the western coast, and the Singhalese, in imitation of them, occupied similar positions. The most striking example of mediæval fortification which still survives, is the imperishable rock of Sigiri, north-east of Dambool, to which the infamous Kassyapa retired with his treasures, after the assassination of his father, King Dhatu Sena, A.D. 459; when having cleared its vicinity, and surrounded it by a rampart, the figures of lions with which he decorated it, obtained for it the name of Sihagiri, the "Lion-rock." But the real defences of Sigiri were its precipitous cliffs, and its naturally scarped walls, which it was not necessary to strengthen by any artificial structures.

Their rocky hills, and the almost impenetrable forests which enveloped them, were in every age the chief security of the Singhalese; and so late as the 12th century, the inscription engraved on the rock at Dambool, in describing the strength of the national defences under the King Kirti Nissanga, enumerates them as "strongholds in the midst of forests, and those upon steep hills, and the fastnesses surrounded by water."[1]

[Footnote 1: TURNOUR'S _Epitome and Appendix_, p. 95.]

_Thorn-gates._--The device, retained down to the period of the capture of Kandy by the British, when the passes into the hill country were defended by thick plantations of formidable thorny trees, appears to have prevailed in the earliest times. The protection of Mahelo, a town assailed by Dutugaimunu, B.C. 162, consisting in its being "surrounded on all sides with the thorny _dadambo_ creeper, within which was a triple line of fortifications."[1]

[Footnote 1: _Mahawanso_, ch. xxv. p. 153. When Albuquerque attacked Malacca in A.D. 1511, the chief who defended the place "covered the streets with poisoned thorns, to gore the Portuguese coming in" FARIA Y SOUZA, vol. i. p. 180. VALENTYN, in speaking of the dominions of the King of Kandy during the Dutch occupation of the Low Country, describes the density of the forests, "which not only serve to divide the earldoms one from another, but, above all, tend to the fortification of the country, on which account no one dare, on pain of death, to thin or root out a tree, more than to permit a passage for one man at a time, it being impossible to pass through the rest thereof."--VALENTYN, _Oud en Nieuw Oost-Indien, &c._, ch. i. p. 22. KNOX gives a curious account of these "thorn-gates." (Part ii. ch. vi. p. 45.)]

_Bridges_.--As to bridges, Ceylon had none till the end of the 13th century[1], and Turnour conjectures that even then they were only formed of timber, like the Pons Sublidus at Rome. At a later period stone pillars were used in pairs, on which beams or slabs were horizontally rested, in order to form a roadway [2], in the same manner that Herodotus describes the most ancient bridge on record, which was constructed by Queen Nitocris, at Babylon; the planks being laid during the day and lifted again at night, for the security of the city.[3] The principle of the arch appears never to have been employed in bridge building. Ferries, and the taxes on crossing by them, are alluded to down to a very late period amongst other sources of revenue.[4]

[Footnote 1: TURNOUR'S _Epitome_ and _Notes_, p. 72. Major Forbes says, however, there is reason to believe that the remains of stone piers across the Kalawa-oya, on the line between Kornegalle and Anarajapoora, are the ruins of the bridge erected by King Maha Sen, A.D. 301.]

[Footnote 2: _Mahawanso_, ch. lxxxv. UPHAM'S translation, pp. 340,349; _Rajaratnacari_, pp. 104, 131. The bridge on the Wanny hereafter described (see vol. ii p. 474) was thus constructed.]

[Footnote 3: Herodotus, i. 186.]

[Footnote 4: _Mahawanso_, ch. xxiii. pp. 136, 138, ch. xxv. p. 150; _Rajaratnacari_, p. 112.]

In forming the bunds of their reservoirs and of the stone dams which they drew across the rivers that were to supply them with water, they were accustomed, with incredible toil, infinitely increased by the imperfection of tools and implements, to work a raised moulding in front of the blocks of stone, so that each course was retained in position, not alone by its own weight, but by the difficulty of forcing it forward by pressure from behind.

The conduits by which the accumulated waters were distributed, required to be constructed under the bed of the lake, so that the egress should be certain and equal[1], as long as any water remained in the tank. To effect this, they were cut in many instances through solid granite; and their ruins present singular illustrations of determined perseverance, undeterred by the most discouraging difficulties, and unrelieved by the slightest appliance of ingenuity to diminish the toil of excavation.

[Footnote 1: The Lake of Albano presents an example of a conduit or "emissary" of this peculiar construction to draw off the water. It is upwards of 6000 feet in length. A similar emissary serves a like purpose at Lake Nemi.]

It cannot but exalt our opinion of a people, to find that, under disadvantages so signal, they were capable of forming such a work as the Kalaweva tank, between Anarajapoora and Dambool, which TURNOUR justly says, is the greatest of the ancient works in Ceylon. This enormous reservoir was forty miles in circumference, with an embankment twelve miles in extent, and the spill-water, ineffectual for the purpose designed, is "one of the most stupendous monuments of misapplied human labour."[1]

[Footnote 1: TURNOUR'S _Mahawanso_, Index, p. xi. This stupendous work was constructed A.D. 459. _Mahawanso_, ch. xxxviii. p. 256.]

When to such inherent deficiencies were added the alarms of frequent invasion and all the evils of almost incessant occupation by a foreign enemy, it is only surprising that the Singhalese preserved so long the degree of expertness in engineering to which they had originally attained. No people in any age or country had so great practice and experience in the construction of works for irrigation; and so far had the renown of their excellence in this branch reached, that in the eighth century, the king of Kashmir, Djaya-pida, "sent to Ceylon for engineers to form a lake."[1] But after the reign of Prakrama I., the decline was palpable and progressive. No great works, either of ornament or utility, no temples nor inland lakes, were constructed by his successors; and it is remarkable, that even during his own reign, artificers were brought from the coast of India to repair the monuments of Anarajapoora.[2] The last great work attempted for irrigation was probably the Giant's Tank, north-east of Aripo; but so much had practical science declined, that after an enormous expenditure of labour in damming up the Moeselley river, whose waters were to have been diverted to the lake, it was discovered that the levels were unsuitable, and the work was abandoned in despair.[3]

[Footnote 1: A.D. 745. _Rajataringini_, b. iv. sl. 502, 505.]

[Footnote 2: _Mahawanso_, UPHAM'S transl., ch. lxxv. p. 294. This passage in the _Mahawanso_ might seem to imply that it was as an act of retribution that Malabars, by whom the monuments had been injured, were compelled to restore them. But in ch. lxxvii. it is stated that they were brought from India for this purpose, because it "had been found impracticable by other kings to renew and repair them."--P. 305.]

[Footnote 3: For an account of the present condition of the Giant's Tank, see Vol. II. Part x. ch. ii.]

The talents of the civil engineer were likewise employed in providing for the health and comfort of their towns and the _Dipawanso_, a chronicle earlier in point of date than the _Mahawanso_, relates that Wasabha, who reigned between A.D. 66 and 110, constructed a tunnel ("um-maggo") for the purpose of supplying Anarajapoora with water.[1]

[Footnote 1: _Journ. Asiat. Soc. Beng._ vol. vii. p. 933.]

CHAP. VII.

THE FINE ARTS.

MUSIC.--The science and practice of the fine arts were never very highly developed amongst a people whose domestic refinement became arrested at a very early stage; and whose efforts in that direction were almost wholly confined to the exaltation of the national faith, and the embellishment of its temples and monuments.

Their knowledge of music was derived from the Hindus, by whom its study was regarded as of equal importance with that of medicine and astronomy; and hence amongst the early Singhalese, along with the other "eighteen sciences,"[1] music was taught as an essential part of the education of a prince.[2]

[Footnote 1: This fact is curious, seeing that at the present day the cultivation of music belongs to one of the lowest castes in Ceylon.]

[Footnote 2: _Mahawanso_, ch. lxiv.; UPHAM'S version, p. 256. An ingenious paper on _Singhalese Music_, by Mr. Louis Nell, is printed in the _Journ._ of the Ceylon branch of the _Roy. Asiat. Soc._ for 1856-8; p. 200.]

But unlike the soft melodies of Hindustan, whose characteristic is their gentle and soothing effect, the music of the Singhalese appears to have consisted of sound rather than of harmony; modulation and expression having been at all times subordinate to volume and metrical effect.

Reverberating instruments were their earliest inventions for musical purposes, and those most frequently alluded to in their chronicles are drums, resembling the tom-toms used in the temples to the present day. The same variety of form prevailed then as now, and the _Rajavali_ relates, in speaking of the army of Dutugaimunu, that in its march, the "rattling of the sixty-four kinds of drums made a noise resembling thunder breaking on the rock from behind which the sun rises."[1] The band of Devenipiatissa, B.C. 307, was called the _talawachara_, from the multitude of drums[2]: chank-shells contributed to swell the din, both in warfare[3] and in religious worship[4]; choristers added their voices[5]; and the triumph of effect consisted in "the united crash of every description, vocal as well as instrumental"[6] Although "a full band" is explained in the _Mahawanso_ to imply a combination of "all descriptions of musicians," no flutes or wind instruments are particularised, and the incidental mention of a harp only occurs in the reign of Dutugaimunu, B.C. 161.[7] JOINVILLE says, that certain musical principles were acknowledged in Ceylon at an early period, and that pieces are to be seen in some of the old Pali books in regular notation; the gamut, which was termed _septa souere_, consisting of seven notes, and expressed not by signs, but in letters equivalent to their pronunciation, _sa, ri, ga, me, qa, de, ni._[8] At the present day, harmony is still superseded by sound, the singing of the Singhalese being a nasal whine, not unlike that of the Arabs. Flutes, almost insusceptible of modulation, chanks, which give forth a piercing scream, and the overpowering roll of tom-toms, constitute the music of the temples; and all day long the women of a family will sit round a species of timbrel, called _rabani_, and produce from it the most monotonous, but to their ear, most agreeable noises, by drumming with the fingers.

[Footnote 1: _Rajavali_, pp. 217, 219. At the present day, there are four or five varieties of drums in use:--the tom-tom or _tam-a-tom_, properly so-called, which consists of two cylinders placed side by side, and is beaten with two sticks;--the _daelle_, a single cylinder struck with a stick at one end, and with the hand at the other,--the _oudaelle_, which is held in the left hand, and struck with the right;--and the _berri_, which is suspended from the beater's neck, and struck with both hands, one at each end, precisely as a similar instrument is shown in some of the Egyptian monuments.

]

[Footnote 2: _Mahawanso_, ch. xvii, p. 104.]

[Footnote 3: B.C. 161. _Mahawanso_, ch. xxv, p. 154.]

[Footnote 4: B.C. 20. _Rajavali_, p. 51.]

[Footnote 5: _Mahawanso_, ch. xxv. p. 157.]

[Footnote 6: _Mahawanso_, ch. xxvi. 186.]

[Footnote 7: _Mahawanso_, ch. xxx. p. 180. The following passage in UPHAM'S translation of the _Mahawanso_, ch. lxxii. vol. i. p. 274, would convey the idea that the Æolian harp was meant, or some arrangement of strings calculated to elicit similar sounds:--"The king Prakrama built a palace at the city of Pollanarrua; and the stone works were carved in the shape of flowers and creeping plants, _with golden networks which gave harmonious sounds as if they were moved by the air_."]

[Footnote 8: JOINVILLE, _Asiat. Researches_, vol. vii. p. 488.]

_Painting_.--Painting, whether historical or imaginative, is only mentioned in connection with the decoration of temples, and no examples survive of sufficient antiquity to exhibit the actual state of the art at any remote period. But enough is known of the trammels imposed upon all art, to show that from the earliest times, imagination and invention were prohibited by the priesthood; and although execution and facility may have varied at different eras, design and composition were stationary and unalterable.

Like the priesthood of Egypt, those of Ceylon regulated the mode of delineating the effigies of their divine teacher, by a rigid formulary, with which they combined corresponding directions for the drawing of the human figure in connection with sacred subjects. In the relics of Egyptian painting and sculpture, we find "that the same formal outline, the same attitudes and postures of the body, the same conventional modes of representing the different parts, were adhered to at the latest, as at the earliest periods. No improvements were admitted; no attempts to copy nature or to give an air of action to the limbs. Certain rules and certain models had been established by law, and the faulty conceptions of early times were copied and perpetuated by every succeeding artist."[1]

[Footnote 1: SIR GARDNER WILKINSON'S _Ancient Egyptians_, vol. iii. ch. x. p. 87, 264.]

The same observations apply, almost in the same terms, to the paintings of the Singhalese. The historical delineations of the exploits of Gotama Buddha and of his disciples and attendants, which at the present day cover the walls of the temples and wiharas, follow, with rigid minuteness, pre-existing illustrations of the sacred narratives. They appear to have been copied, with a devout adherence to colour, costume, and detail, from designs which from time immemorial have represented the same subjects; and emaciated ascetics, distorted devotees, beatified simpletons, and malefactors in torment are depicted with a painful fidelity, akin to modern pre-Raphaelitism.