Ceylon; an Account of the Island Physical, Historical, and Topographical with Notices of Its Natural History, Antiquities and Productions, Volume 1 (of 2) / Tennent, James EmersonCeylon; an Account of the Island Physical, Historical, and Topographical with Notices of Its Natural History, Antiquities and Productions, Volume 1 (of 2) / Tennent, James Emerson| Author: | Tennent, James Emerson |
| Title: | Ceylon; an Account of the Island Physical, Historical, and Topographical with Notices of Its Natural History, Antiquities and Productions, Volume 1 (of 2) |
| Date: | 2004-09-28 |
| Contributor(s): | Huizinga, S. P. [Editor] |
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| Identifier: | etext13552 |
| Language: | en |
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Title: Ceylon; an Account of the Island Physical, Historical, and
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Author: James Emerson Tennent
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CEYLON; AN ACCOUNT OF THE ISLAND PHYSICAL, HISTORICAL, AND TOPOGRAPHICAL
WITH NOTICES OF ITS NATURAL HISTORY, ANTIQUITIES AND PRODUCTIONS
by
SIR JAMES EMERSON TENNENT, K.C.S. LL.D. &c.
Illustrated by Maps, Plans and Drawings
Fourth Edition, Thoroughly Revised
VOLUME I
LONDON
1860
[Illustration: Frontispiece for Vol I
NOOSING WILD ELEPHANTS--Vol 2 p 359 368 &c]
CONTENTS OF THE FIRST VOLUME
PART I.
PHYSICAL GEOGRAPHY.
CHAPTER I.
GEOLOGY.--MINERALOGY.--GEMS.
I. General Aspect.
Singular beauty of the island
Its ancient renown in consequence
Fable of its "perfumed winds" (note)
Character of the scenery
II. Geographical Position
Ancient views regarding it amongst the Hindus,--"the Meridian of
Lanka"
Buddhist traditions of former submersions (note)
Errors as to the dimensions of Ceylon
Opinions of Onesicritus, Eratosthenes, Strabo, Pliny, Ptolemy,
Agathemerus 8,
The Arabian geographers
Sumatra supposed to be Ceylon (note)
True latitude and longitude
General Eraser's map of Ceylon (note)
Geological formation
Adam's Bridge
Error of supposing Ceylon to be a detached fragment of India
III. The Mountain System
Remarkable hills, Mihintala and Sigiri
Little evidence of volcanic action
Rocks, gneiss
Rock temples
Laterite or "Cabook"
Ancient name Tamba-panni (note)
Coral formation
Extraordinary wells
Darwin's theory of coral wells examined (note)
The soil of Ceylon generally poor
"Patenas," their phenomena obscure
Rice lands between the hills
Soil of the plains, "Talawas"
IV. Metals.--Tin
Gold, nickel, cobalt
Quicksilver (note)
Iron
V. Minerals.--Anthracite, plumbago, kaolin, nitre caves
List of Ceylon minerals (note)
VI. Gems, ancient fame of
Rose-coloured quartz (note)
Mode of searching for gems
Rubies
Sapphire, topaz, garnet, and cinnamon stone, cat's-eye, amethyst,
moonstone 37,
Diamond not found in Ceylon (note)
Gem-finders and lapidaries
VII. Rivers.--Their character
The Mahawelli-ganga
Table of the rivers
VIII. Singular coast formation, and its causes
The currents and their influence
Word "Gobb" explained (note)
Vegetation of the sand formations
Their suitability for the coconut
IX. Harbours.--Galle and Trincomalie
Tides
Red infusoria
Population of Ceylon
CHAP. II.
CLIMATE.--HEALTH AND DISEASE.
Uniformity of temperature
Brilliancy of foliage
Colombo.--January--long shore wind
February--cold nights (note)
March, April
May--S.W. monsoon
Aspect of the country before it
Lightning
Rain, its violence
June
July and August, September, October,
November. N.E. monsoon
December
Annual quantity of rain in Ceylon and Hindustan (note)
Opposite climates of the same mountain
Climate of Galle
Kandy and its climate
Mists and hail
Climate of Trincomalie (text and note)
Jaffna and its climate
Waterspouts
Anthelia
Buddha rays
Ceylon as a sanatarium.--Neuera-ellia
Health
Malaria
Food and wine 76,
Effects of the climate of Ceylon on disease
Precautions for health
CHAP. III
VEGETATION.--TREES AND PLANTS.
The Flora of Ceylon imperfectly known
Vegetation similar to that of India and the Eastern Archipelago
Trees of the sea-borde.--Mangroves--Screw-pines, Sonneratia
The Northern Plains.--Euphorbiae Cassia.--Mustard-tree of Scripture
Western coast.--Luxurious vegetation
Eastern coast
Pitcher plant.--Orchids
Vines
Botany of the Mountains.--Iron-wood, Bamboo, European
fruit-trees
Tea-plant--_Rhododendron_--_Mickelia_
Rapid disappearance of dead trees in the forests
Trees with natural buttresses
Flowering Trees.--Coral tree
The Murutu--Imbul--Cotton tree--Champac
The Upas Tree--Poisons of Ceylon
The Banyan
The Sacred Bo-tree
The India Rubber-tree--The Snake-tree
Kumbuk-tree: lime in its bark
Curious Seeds.--The Dorian, _Sterculia foetida_
The Sea Pomegranate
Strychnos, curious belief as to its poison
_Euphorbia_--The Cow-tree, error regarding (note)
Climbing plants, Epiphytes, and flowering creepers
Orchids--Brilliant terrestrial orchid, the
Wanna-raja.--Square-stemmed Vine
Gigantic climbing Plants
Enormous bean
Bonduc seeds.--Ratans--Ratan bridges
Thorny Trees.--Raised as a natural fortification by the
Kandyans
The buffalo thorn, _Acacia tomentosa_
Palms
Coco-nut--Talipat
Palmyra
Jaggery Palm--Arcea Palm
Betel-chewing, its theory and uses
Pingos
Timber Trees
Jakwood--Del--Teak
Suria
Cabinet Woods.--Satin-wood--Ebony--Cadooberia
Calamander, its rarity and beauty
Tamarind
Fruit-trees
Remarkable power of trees to generate cold and keep their fruit
chill
Aquatic Plants--Lotus, red and blue
Desmanthus natans, an aquatic sensitive plant
PART II.
ZOOLOGY.
CHAPTER I.
MAMMALIA.
Neglect of Zoology in Ceylon
Monkeys
Wanderoo
Error regarding the _Silenus Veter_ (note)
Presbytes Cephalopterus
P. Ursinus in the Hills
P. Thersites in the Wanny
P. Priamus, Jaffna and Trincomalie
No dead monkey ever found
Loris
Bats
Flying fox
Horse-shoe bat
Carnivora.--Bears
Their ferocity
Singhalese belief in the efficacy of charms (note)
Leopards
Curious belief
Anecdotes of leopards
Palm-cat
Civet
Dogs
Jackal
The horn of the jackal
Mungoos
Its fights with serpents
Theory of its antidote
Squirrels
Flying squirrel
Tree rat
Story of a rat and a snake
Coffee rat
Bandicoot
Porcupine
Pengolin
_Ruminantia_.--The Gaur
Oxen
Humped cattle
Encounter of a cow and a leopard
Buffaloes
Sporting buffaloes
Peculiar structure of the hoof
Deer
Meminna
Elephants
Whales
General view of the mammalia of Ceylon
List of Ceylon mammalia
Curious parasite of the bat (note)
CHAP. II.
BIRDS.
Their numbers
Songsters
Hornbills, the "bird with two heads"
Pea fowl
Sea birds, their number
I. _Accipitres_.--Eagles
Falcons and hawks
Owls--the devil bird
II. _Passeres_.--Swallows
Kingfishers--sunbirds
Bul-bul--tailor bird--and weaver
Crows, anecdotes of
III. _Scansores_.--Parroquets
IV. _Columbiae_.--Pigeons
V. _Gallinae_.--Jungle-fowl
VI. _Grallae_.--Ibis, stork, &c.
VII. _Anseres_.--Flamingoes
Pelicans
Game.--Partridges, &c.176
List of Ceylon birds
List of birds peculiar to Ceylon
CHAP. III.
REPTILES.
Lizards.--Iguana
Kabragoya, barbarous custom in preparing the cobra-tel poison
(note)
The green calotes
Chameleon
Ceratophora
Geckoes,--their power of reproducing limbs 185,
Crocodiles
Their power of burying themselves in the mud
Tortoises--Curious parasite
Land tortoises
Edible turtle
Huge Indian tortoises (note)
Hawk's-bill turtle, barbarous mode of stripping it of the
tortoise-shell
Serpents.--Venomous species rare
Cobra de capello
Instance of land snakes found at sea
Tame snakes (note)
Singular tradition regarding the cobra de capello
Uropeltidae.--New species discovered in Ceylon
Buddhist veneration for the cobra de capello
Anecdotes of snakes
The Python
Water snakes
Snake stones
Analysis of one
Caecilia
Large frogs
Tree frogs
List of Ceylon reptiles
CHAP. IV.
FISHES.
Ichthyology of Ceylon, little known
Fish for table, seir fish
Sardines, poisonous?
Sharks
Saw-fish
Fish of brilliant colours
Curious fish described by AElian (note)
Fresh-water fish, little known,--not much eaten
Fresh-water fish in Colombo Lake
Immense profusion of fish in the rivers and lakes
Their re-appearance after rain
Mode of fishing in the ponds
Showers of fish
Conjecture that the ova are preserved, not tenable
Fish moving on dry land
Instances in Guiana (note)
Perca Scandens, ascends trees
Doubts as to the story of Daldorf
Fishes burying themselves during the dry season
The _protopterus_ of the Gambia
Instances in the fish of the Nile
Instances in the fish of South America
Living fish dug out of the ground in the dry tanks in Ceylon
Other animals that so bury themselves, Melaniae, Ampullariae, &c.
The animals that so bury themselves in India (note)
Analogous case of (note)
Theory of aestivation and hybernation
Fish in hot-water in Ceylon
List of Ceylon fishes
Instances of fishes failing from the clouds
Overland migration of fishes known to the Greeks and Romans
Note on Ceylon fishes by Professor Huxley
Comparative note by Dr. Gray, Brit. Mus.231
CHAP. V.
MOLLUSCA, RADIATA, AND ACALEPHAE.
I. Conchology--General character of Ceylon shells
Confusion regarding them in scientific works and collections
List of Ceylon shells
II. _Radiata_.--Star fish
Sea slugs
Parasitic worms
Planaria
III. _Acalephae_, abundant
Corals little known
CHAP. VI.
INSECTS.
Profusion of insects in Ceylon
Imperfect knowledge of
I. _Coleoptera_.--Beetles
Scavenger beetles
Coco-nut beetles
Tortoise beetles
II. _Orthoptera_.--Mantis and leaf-insects
Stick-insects
III. _Neuroptera_--Dragon flies
Ant-lion
White ants
Anecdotes of their instinct and ravages (text and note)
V. _Hymenoptera_.--Mason Wasps
Wasps
Bees
Carpenter Bee
Ants
Burrowing ants
VI. _Lepidoptera_.--Butterflies
Sylph
Lycaenidae
Moths
Silk worms (text and note)
Wood-carrying Moths
Pterophorus
VII. _Homoptera_
Cicada
VIII. _Hemiptera_
Bugs
IX. _Aphaniptera_
X. _Diptera_.--Mosquitoes
General character of Ceylon insects
List of insects in Ceylon
CHAP. VII.
ARACHNIDE, MYRIOPODA, CRUSTACEA, ETC.
Spiders
Strange nests of the wood spiders
_Olios Taprobanius_
_Mygale fasciata_
Ticks
Mites.--_Trombidium tinctorum_
Myriapods.--Centipedes
Cermatia
Scolopendra crassa
S. pollipes
_Millipeds_--Iulus
_Crustacea_
Calling crabs
Land crabs
Painted crabs
Paddling crabs
_Annelidae_, Leeches.--The land leech
Medical leech
Cattle leech
List of Articulata, &c.307
PART III.
THE SINGHALESE CHRONICLES.
CHAPTER I.
SOURCES OF SINGHALESE HISTORY--THE MAHAWANSO.
Ceylon formerly thought to have no authentic history
Researches of Turnour
Biographical sketch of Turnour (note)
The Mahawanso
Recovery of the "tika" on the Mahawanso
Outline of the Mahawanso
Turnour's epitome of Singhalese history
Historical proofs of the Mahawanso
Identity of Sandracottus and Chandragupta
Ancient map of Ceylon (note)
List of Ceylon sovereigns
CHAP. II.
THE ABORIGINES.
Singhalese histories all illustrative of Buddhism
A Buddha
Gotama Buddha, his history
Amazing prevalence of his religion (note)
His three visits to Ceylon
Inhabitants of the island at that time supposed to be of Malayan
type
Legend of their Chinese origin
Probably identical with the aborigines of the Dekkan
Common basis of their language
Characteristics of vernacular Singhalese
State of the aborigines before Wijayo's invasion
Story of Wijayo
The natives of Ceylon described as _Yakkos_ and _Nagas_
Traces of serpent-worship in Ceylon
Coincidence of the Mahawanso with the Odyssey (note)
CHAP. III.
CONQUEST OF WIJAYO, B.C. 543.--ESTABLISHMENT OF BUDDHISM, B.C. 307.
Early commerce of Ceylon described by the Chinese
Wijayo as a colonizer
His treatment of the native population
B.C. 505. His death and successors
A number of petty kingdoms formed
Ceylon divided into three districts: Pihiti, Rohuna, and Maya
The village system established
Agriculture introduced
Irrigation imported from India
The first tank constructed, B.C. 504 (note)
Rapid progress of the island
Toleration of Wijayo and his followers
Establishment of Buddhism, 307 B.C.
Preaching of Mahindo
Planting of the sacred Bo-tree
CHAP. IV.
THE BUDDHIST MONUMENTS.
Buddhist architecture introduced in Ceylon
The first _dagobas_ built
Their mode of construction and vast dimensions
The earliest Buddhist temples
Images and statues a later innovation
First residences of the priesthood
The formation of monasteries and _wiharas_
The first wihara built
Form of the modern wiharas
Inconvenient numbers of the Buddhist priesthood
Originally fed by the kings and the people
Caste annulled in the case of priests
The priestly robe and its peculiarities
CHAP. V.
SINGHALESE CHIVALRY.--ELALA AND DUTUGAIMUNU.
Progress of civilisation
The new settlers agriculturists
Malabars enlisted as soldiers and seamen
B.C. 237. The revolt of Sena and Gutika
B.C. 205. Usurpation of Elala
His character and renown
The victory of Dutugaimunu
Progress of the south of the island
Building of the great Ruanwelle Dagoba
Building of the Brazen Palace
Its vicissitudes and ruins
Death and character of Dutugaimunu
CHAP. VI.
THE INFLUENCES OP BUDDHISM ON CIVILISATION.
The Mahawanse or Great Dynasty
The Suluwanse or Inferior Dynasty
Services rendered by the Great Dynasty
Frequent usurpations and the cause
Disputed successions
Rising influence of the priesthood
B.C. 104. Their first endowment with land
Rapid increase of the temple estates
Their possessions and their vow of poverty reconciled
Acquire the compulsory labour of temple-tenants
Impulse thus given to cultivation
And to the construction of enormous tanks
Tanks conferred on the temples
The great tank of Minery formed, A.D. 272
Subserviency of the kings to the priesthood
Large possessions of the temples at the present day
Cultivation of flowers for the temples
Their singular profusion
Fruit trees planted by the Buddhist sovereigns
Edicts of Asoca
CHAP. VII.
FATE OF THE ABORIGINES.
Aborigines forced to labour for the new settlers
Immensity of the structures erected by them
Slow amalgamation of the natives with the strangers
The worship of snakes and demons continued
Treatment of the aborigines by the kings
Their formal disqualification for high office
Their rebellions
They retire into the mountains and forests
Their singular habits of seclusion
Traces of their customs at the present day
CHAP. VIII.
EXTINCTION OF THE GREAT DYNASTY.
B.C. 104 Walagam-bahu I
His wars with the Malabars
The South of Ceylon free from Malabar invasion
The Buddhist doctrines first formed into books
The formation of rock-temples
Apostacy of Chora Naga
Ceylon governed by queens
Schisms in religion
Buddhism tolerant of heresy but intolerant of schism
Illustrations of Buddhist toleration
Tolerance enjoined by Asoca
The Wytulian heresy
Corruption of Buddhism by the impurities of Brahnmanism
A.D. 275. Recantation and repentance of King Maha Sen
End of the Solar race
State of Ceylon at that period
Prosperity of the North
Description of Anarajapoora in the fourth century
Its municipal organisation
Its palaces and temples
Popular error as to the area of the city (note)
Multitudes of the priesthood described by Fa Hian
CHAP. IX
KINGS OF THE LOWER DYNASTY.
Sovereigns of the Lower Dynasty, a feeble race
Kings who were sculptors, physicians, and poets
Earliest notice of Foreign Embassies to Rome and to China
Notices of Ceylon by Chinese Historians
Fa Hian visits Ceylon A.D. 413
Anecdote related by Fa Hian (note)
History of "the Sacred Tooth"
Murder of the king Dhatu Sena, A.D. 459
Infamous conduct of his son
The fortified rock Sigiri
CHAP. X.
DOMINATION OF THE MALABARS.
Origin of the Malabar invaders of Ceylon
The ancient Indian kingdom of Pandya
Malabar mercenaries enlisted in Ceylon
B.C. 237. Revolt of Sena and Gutika
B.C. 205. Usurpation of Elala
B.C. 103. Second Malabar invasion
A.D. 110. Third Malabar invasion
Jewish evidence of Malabar conquest (note)396
A.D. 433. Fourth Malabar invasion
The influence of the Malabars firmly established
Distress of the Singhalese in the 7th century, as described by Hiouen
Thsang
A.D. 642. Anarajapoora deserted, and Pollanarrua built
The Malabars did nothing to improve the island
A.D. 840. A fresh Malabar invasion
The Singhalese seek to conciliate them by alliances
A.D. 990. Another Malabar invasion
Extreme misery of the island
A.D. 1023. The Malabars seize Pollanarrua and occupy the entire north
of the island
CHAP. XI.
THE REIGN OF PRAKRAMA BAHU.
A.D. 1071. Recovery of the island from the Malabars
Wijayo Bahu I. expels the Malabars
Birth of the Prince Prakrama
His character and renown
Immense public works constructed by him
Restores the order of the Buddhist priesthood
Intercourse between Siam and Ceylon
Temples and sacred edifices built by Prakrama
The Gal-Wihara at Pollanarrua
Ruins of Pollanarrua
Extraordinary extent of his works for irrigation
Foreign wars of Prakrama
His conquests in India
The death of Prakrama Bahu
CHAP. XII.
FATE OF THE SINGHALESE MONARCHY.
ARRIVAL OF THE PORTUGUESE, A.D. 1505.
Prakrama Baku, the last powerful king
Anarchy follows on his decease
A.D. 1197. The Queen Leela-Wattee
A.D. 1211. Return of the Malabar invaders
The Malabars establish themselves at Jaffna
Early history of Jaffna
A.D. 1235. The new capital at Dambedenia
Extending ruin of Ceylon
Kandy founded as a new capital
Successive removals of the seat of Government to Yapahoo, Kornegalle,
Gampola, Kandy, and Cotta
Ascendancy of the Malabars
A.D. 1410. The King of Ceylon carried captive to China
Ceylon tributary to China
Arrival of the Portuguese in Ceylon
PART IV.
SCIENCES AND SOCIAL ARTS.
CHAPTER I.
POPULATION, CASTE, SLAVERY, AND RAJA-KARIYA.
Population encouraged by the fertility of Ceylon
Evidence of its former extent in the ruins of the tanks and canals
Means by which the population was preserved
Causes of its dispersion--the ruin of the tanks
Domestic life similar to that of the Hindus
Respect shown to females
Caste perpetuated in defiance of religious prohibition
Particulars in which caste in Ceylon differs from caste in India
Slavery, borrowed from Hindustan
Compulsory labour or Raja-kariya
Mode of enforcing it
CHAP. II.
AGRICULTURE, IRRIGATION, CATTLE, AND CROPS.
Agriculture unknown before the arrival of Wijayo
Rice was imported into Ceylon in the second century B.C.
The practice of irrigation due to the Hindu kings
Who taught the science of irrigation to the Singhalese (note)
The first tank constructed B.C. 504
Gardens and fruit-trees first planted
Value of artificial irrigation in the north of Ceylon
In the south of the island the rains sustain cultivation
Two harvests in the year in the south of the island
In the north, where rains are uncertain, tanks indispensable
Irrigation the occupation of kings
The municipal village-system of cultivation
"_Assoedamising_" of rice lands in the mountains
Temple villages and their tenure
Farm-stock buffaloes and cows
A Singhalese garden described
Coco-nut palm rarely mentioned in early writings
Doubt whether it be indigenous to Ceylon
The Mango and other fruits
Rice and curry mentioned in the second century B.C.
Animal food used by the early Singhalese
Betel, antiquity of the custom of chewing it
Intoxicating liquors known at an early period
CHAP. III.
EARLY COMMERCE, SHIPPING, AND PRODUCTIONS.
Trade entirely in the hands of strangers
Native shipping unconnected with commerce
Same indifference to trade prevails at this day
Singhalese boats all copied from foreign models
All sewn together and without iron
Romance of the "Loadstone Island"
The legend believed by Greeks and the Chinese
Vessels with two prows mentioned by Strabo
Foreign trade spoken of B.C. 204
Internal traffic in the ancient city of Ceylon
Merchants traversing the island
Early exports from Ceylon,--gems, pearls, &c.
The imports, chiefly manufactures
Horses and carriages imported from India
Cloth, silk, &c., brought from Persia
Kashmir, intercourse with
Edrisi's account of Ceylon trade in the twelfth century
CHAP. IV.
MANUFACTURES.
Silk not produced in Ceylon
Coir and cordage
Dress; unshaped robes
Manual and Mechanical Arts--Weaving
Priest's robes spun, woven, and dyed in a day
Peculiar mode of cutting out a priest's robe
Bleaching and dyeing
Earliest artisans, immigrants
Handicrafts looked down on
Pottery
Glass
Glass mirrors
Leather
Wood carving
Chemical Arts--Sugar
Mineral paints
CHAP. V.
WORKING IN METALS.
Early knowledge of the use of iron
Steel
Copper and its uses
Bells, bronze, lead
Gold and silver
Plate and silver ware
Red coral found at Galle (note)
Jewelry and mounted gems
Gilding.--Coin
Coins mentioned in the Mahawanso
Meaning of the term "massa" (note)
Coins of Lokiswaira
General device of Singhalese coins
Indian coinage of Prakrama Bahu
Fish-hook money
CHAP. VI.
ENGINEERING.
Engineering taught by the Brahmans
Rude methods of labour
Military engineering unknown
Early attempts at fortification
Fortified rock of Sigiri
Forests, their real security
Thorns planted as defences
Bridges and ferries
Method of tying cut stone in forming tanks
Tank sluices
Defective construction of these reservoirs
The art of engineering lost
The "Giants' Tank" a failure
An aqueduct formed, A.D. 66
CHAP. VII.
THE FINE ARTS.
Music, its early cultivation
Harsh character of Singhalese music
Tom-toms, their variety and antiquity
Singhalese gamut
Painting.--Imagination discouraged
Similarity of Singhalese to Egyptian art
Rigid rules for religious design
Similar trammels on art in Modern Greece (note)
And in Italy in the 15th century (n.)
Celebrated Singhalese painters
Sculpture.--Statues of Buddha
Built statues
Painted statues
Statues formed of gems
Ivory and sandal-wood carved
Architecture, its ruins exclusively religious
Domestic architecture mean at all times
Stone quarried by wedges
Immense slabs thus prepared
Columns at Anarajapoora
Materials for building
Mode of constructing a dagoba
Enormous dimensions of these structures
Monasteries and wiharas
Palaces
Carvings in stone
Ubiquity of the honours shown to goose
Delicate outline of Singhalese carvings
Temples and their decorations
Cave temples of Ceylon
The Alu-wihara
Moulding in plaster
Claim of the Singhalese to the invention of oil painting
Lacquer ware of the present day
Honey-suckle ornament
CHAP. VIII.
SOCIAL LIFE.
Ancient cities and their organisation
Public buildings, hospitals, shops
Anarajapoora, as it appeared in 7th century
The description of it by Fa Hian
Carriages and Horses
Horses imported from Persia
Furniture of the houses
Form of Government.--Revenue
The Army and Navy
Mode of recruiting
Arms.--Bows
Singular mode of drawing the bow with the foot (note)
Civil Justice
CHAP. IX.
SCIENCES.
Education and schools
Logic
Astronomy and astrology
Medicine and surgery
King Buddha-dasa a physician
Botany
Geometry
Lightning conductors
Notice of a remarkable passage in the Mahawanso
CHAP. X.
SINGHALESE LITERATURE.
The Pali language
The temples the depositaries of learning
Historiographers employed by the kings
Ola books, how prepared
A stile, and the mode of writing
Books on plates of metal (note)
Differences between Elu and Singhalese
Pali works
Grammar
Hardy's list of Singhalese books (note)
Pali books all written in verse
The _Pittakas_
The _Jatakas_--resemble the Talmud
Pali literature generally
The _Milinda-prasna_
Pali historical books and their character
The _Mahawanso_
Scriptural coincidences in Pali books (note)
Sanskrit works:
Principally on science and medicine
Elu and Singhalese works:
Low tone of the popular literature
Chiefly ballads and metrical essays
Exempt from licentiousness
Sacred poems in honour of Hindu gods
General literature of the people
CHAP. XI.
BUDDHISM AND DEMON-WORSHIP.
Buddhism as it exists in Ceylon
Which was the more ancient, Brahmanism or Buddhism
Various authorities (note)
Buddhism, its extreme antiquity
Its prodigious influence
Sought to be identified with the Druids (note)
Buddhism an agent of civilisation
Its features in Ceylon
The various forms elsewhere
Points that distinguish it from Brahmanism
Buddhist theory of human perfection
Its treatment of caste
Its respect for other religions
Anecdote, illustrative of (note)
Its cosmogony
Its doctrine of "necessity"
Transmigration
Illustration from Lucan (note)
The priesthood and its attributes
Buddhist morals
Prohibition to take life
Form of worship
Brahmanical corruptions
Failure of Buddhism as a sustaining faith
Its moral influence over the people
Demon-worship
Trees dedicated to demons (note)
Devil priests and their orgies
Ascendency of these superstitions
Buddhism as an obstacle to Christianity
Difficulties presented by the morals of Buddhism
Prohibition against taking away life (note)
PART V.
MEDIAEVAL HISTORY.
CHAPTER I.
CEYLON AS KNOWN TO THE GREEKS AND ROMANS.
First heard of by the companions of Alexander the Great
Various ancient names of Ceylon (note)
Early doubts whether it was an island or a continent
Mentioned by Aristotle
Alleged mention of Ceylon in the Samaritan Pentateuch (note)
Onesicritus's account
Megasthenes' description
AElian's account borrowed from Megasthenes (note)
Ceylon known to the Phoenicians and to the Egyptians (note)
Hippalus discovers the monsoons
Effect of this discovery on Indian trade
Pliny's account of Ceylon
Story of Jambulus by Diodoros Siculus (note)
Embassy from Ceylon to Claudius
Narrative of Rachias, and its explanation (note)
Lake Megisba, a tank
Early intercourse with China
The Veddahs described by Pliny
Interval between Pliny and Ptolemy
Ptolemy's account of Ceylon
Explanation of his errors
Ptolemy discriminates bays from estuaries (note) v9
Identification of Ptolemy's names
His map
His sources of information
Agathemerus, Marcianus of Heraclea
Cosmas Indicopleustes
Palladius--St. Ambrosius (note)
State of Ceylon when Cosmas wrote
Its commerce at that period
In the hands of Arabs and Persians v4
Ceylon as described by Cosmas
Story of his informant Sopater
Translation of Cosmas
The gems and other productions of Ceylon--"a gaou" (note)
Meaning of the term "Hyacinth" (note)
The great ruby of Ceylon, its history traced (note)
Cosmas corroborated by the Peripius
Horses imported from Persia
Export of elephants
Note on Sanchoniathon
CHAP. II.
INDIAN, ARABIAN, AND PERSIAN AUTHORITIES.
Absurd errors of the Hindus regarding Ceylon
Their dread of Ceylon as the abode of demons
Rise of the Mahometan power
Persians and Arabs trade to India
Story in Beladory of the first invasion of India by the Mahometans
(text and note)
Character of the Arabian geographers
Their superiority over the Greeks
Greek Paradoxical literature
A.D. 851. The two Mahometans
Their account of Ceylon
Adam's Peak
Obsequies of a king
Councils on religion and history
Toleration
Carmathic monument at Colombo (note)
Galle, the seat of ancient trade
Claim of Mantotte disproved
Greek fire (note)
"_Kalah_" is Galle
The Maharaja of Zabedj help possession of Galle
Evidence of this in the Garsharsp-Namah
Derivation of "Galle" (text and note)
Aversion of the Singhalese to commerce
Identification of the modern Veddahs with the ancient Singhalese
Their singular habits, as described by Robert Knox, Ribeyro, and
Valentyn
By Albyrouni
By Palladius
By Fa Hian
By the Chinese writers (note)
By Pliny
For this reason the coast only known to strangers
Arabian authors who describe Ceylon
Albateny and Massoudi
Tabari (note)
Sinbad the Sailor
Edrisi
Kazwini
Cinnamon, no mention of
Was cinnamon a native of Ceylon?
No mention by Singhalese authors
No mention of by Latin writers
The _Regio Cinnamomifera_ was in Africa (note)
No mention by Arabs or Persians
First noticed in Ceylon by Ibn Batuta
By Nicola di Conti (note)
Ibn Batuta describes Ceylon
His Travels
CHAP. III.
CEYLON AS KNOWN TO THE CHINESE.
Early Chinese trade with Ceylon
Early Chinese travellers in India
Chinese translations of M.S. Julien
List of Chinese authors relating to Ceylon (note)
Their errors as to its form and site
Their account of Adam's Peak and its gems
Chinese names for Ceylon
Curious habit of its traders
They describe the two races, Tamils and Singhalese
Origin of the cotton "Comboy"
Costume of Ceylon
Early commerce
Works for irrigation noticed
Island of Junk-Ceylon
Galle resorted to by Chinese ships
Vegetable productions
Elephants, ivory, and jewels
Skill of Singhalese goldsmiths and statuaries
Pearls and gems sent to China
No mention of cinnamon
Chinese account of Buddhism in Ceylon
Monasteries for priests first founded in Ceylon
Cities of Ceylon in the sixth century
Patriotism of Singhalese kings
Domestic manners of the Singhalese
Embassies from China to Ceylon
Chinese travels prior to the sixth century
Fa Hian's travels in sixth century
First embassy from Ceylon to China, A.D. 405
Narrative of the image which it bore (note)
Ceylon tributary to China in sixth century
Hiouen-Thsang describes Ceylon in the seventh century (note)
Events in the thirteenth and fourteenth centuries
King of Ceylon carried captive to China, A.D. 1405
Last embassy to China, A.D. 1459
Traces of the Chinese in Ceylon
Evidences of their presence found by the Portuguese
Modern Chinese account of Ceylon (note)
CHAP. IV.
CEYLON AS KNOWN TO THE MOORS,
GENOESE, AND VENETIANS.
The Moors of Ceylon
Their origin
The early Mahometans in India
Arabians anciently settled in Ceylon
Real descent of the modern "Moormen"
Their occupation as traders, ancestral
Their hostilities with the Portuguese
They might have been rulers of Ceylon
Indian trade prior to the route by the Cape
The Genoese and Venetians in the East
Rise of the Mongol empire
Marco Polo, A.D. 1271
Visits Ceylon
Friar Odoric, A.D. 1318
Jordan de Severac, A.D. 1323 (note)
Giov. de Marignola, A.D. 1349 (note)
Nicola di Conti, A.D. 1444
The first traveller who speaks of Cinnamon
Jerome de Santo Stefano (note)
Ludov. Barthema, A.D. 1506
Odoardo Barbosa, A.D. 1509
Andrea Corsali, A.D. 1515 (note)
Cesar Frederic, A.D. 1563
Course of trade changed by the Cape route
Irritation of the Venetians
ILLUSTRATIONS IN THE FIRST VOLUME
MAPS.
"Gobbs" on the East Coast By ARROWSMITH
"Gobbs" on the "West Coast ARROWSMITH
Ceylon, according to the Sanskrit
and Pali authors SIR J. EMERSON TENNENT
Map of Ancient India LASSEN
Position of Colombo, according to Ptolemy
and Pliny SIR J. EMERSON TENNENT
Ceylon, according to Ptolemy and Pliny SIR J. EMERSON TENNENT
PLANS AND CHARTS.
Geological System By
Currents in the N.E. Monsoon
Currents in the N.W. Monsoon
Diagram of Rain in India and in Ceylon DR. TEMPLETON
Diagram of the Anthelia DR. TEMPLETON
Plan of a Fish-corral
Summit of a Dagoba, with Lightning
apparatus
WOOD ENGRAVINGS.
Marriage of the Fig-tree and the Palm By MR. A. NICHOLL
Fig-tree on the Ruins of Pollanarrua MR. A. NICHOLL
The "Snake-tree" MR. A. NICHOLL
The _Loris_ M.H. SYLVAT
The _Uropeltis grandis_ M.H. SYLVAT
A _Chironectes_ M.H. SYLVAT
Method of Fishing in Pools From KNOX
The _Anabas_ of the dry Tanks By DR. TEMPLETON
Eggs of the Leaf Insect M.H. SYLVAT
_Cermatia_ DR. TEMPLETON
The Calling Crab
Eyes and Teeth of the Land Leech DR. TEMPLETON
Land Leeches DR. TEMPLETON
Upper and under Surfaces of the
_Hirudo sanguisorba_ DR. TEMPLETON
The Bo-tree at Anarajapoora MR. A. NICHOLL
A Dagoba at Kandy From a Photograph
Ruins of the Brazen Palace By MR. A. NICHOLL
The Alu Wihara MR. A. NICHOLL
The fortified Rock of Sigiri MR. A. NICHOLS
Coin of Queen Leela-Wattee
Coin showing the _Trisula_
Hook-money
Ancient and Modern Tom-tom Beaters From the JOINVILLE MSS.
A Column from Anarajapoora
Sacred Goose from the Burmese Standard
Hansa, from the old Palace at Kandy
Honeysuckle Ornament From FERGUSSON'S
_Handbook of
Architecture_
Egyptian Yoke and Singhalese Pingo
Veddah drawing the Bow with his Foot By MR. R. MACDOWALL
Method of Writing with a Style MR. R. MACDOWALL
The "Comboy," as worn by both Sexes MR. A. FAIRFIELD
NOTICE TO THE FOURTH EDITION.
The gratifying reception with which the following pages have been
honoured by the public and the press, has in no degree lessened my
consciousness, that in a work so extended in its scope, and
comprehending such a multiplicity of facts, errors are nearly
unavoidable both as to conclusions and detail. These, so far as I became
aware of them, I have endeavoured to correct in the present, as well as
in previous impressions.
But my principal reliance for the suggestion and supply both of
amendments and omissions has been on the press and the public of Ceylon;
whose familiarity with the topics discussed naturally renders them the
most competent judges as to the mode in which they have been treated. My
hope when the book was published in October last was, that before going
again to press I should be in possession of such friendly communications
and criticisms from the island, as would have enabled me to render the
second edition much more valuable than the previous one. In this
expectation I have been agreeably disappointed, the sale having been so
rapid, as to require a fourth impression before it was possible to
obtain from Ceylon judicious criticisms on the first. These in due time
will doubtless arrive; and meanwhile, I have endeavoured, by careful
revision, to render the whole as far as possible correct.
J. EMERSON TENNENT.
NOTICE TO THE THIRD EDITION.
The call for a third edition on the same day that the second was
announced for publication, and within less than two months from the
appearance of the first, has furnished a gratifying assurance of the
interest which the public are disposed to take in the subject of the
present work.
Thus encouraged, I have felt it my duty to make several alterations in
the present impression, amongst the most important of which is the
insertion of a Chapter on the doctrines of Buddhism as it developes
itself in Ceylon.[1] In the historical sections I had already given an
account of its introduction by Mahindo, and of the establishments
founded by successive sovereigns for its preservation and diffusion. To
render the narrative complete, it was felt desirable to insert an
abstract of the peculiar tenets of the Buddhists; and this want it has
been my object to supply. The sketch, it will be borne in mind, is
confined to the principal features of what has been denominated
"_Southern Buddhism_" amongst the Singhalese; as distinguished from
"_Northern Buddhism_" in Nepal, Thibet, and China.[2] The latter has
been largely illustrated by the labours of Mr. B.H. HODGSON and the
toilsome researches of M. CSOMA of Koerroes in Transylvania; and the
minutest details of the doctrines and ceremonies of the former have been
unfolded in the elaborate and comprehensive collections of Mr. SPENCE
HARDY.[3] From materials discovered by these and other earnest
inquirers, Buddhism in its general aspect has been ably delineated in
the dissertations of BURNOUF[4] and SAINT HILAIRE[5], and in the
commentaries of REMUSAT[6], STANISLAS JULIEN[7], FOUCAUX[8], LASSEN[9],
and WEBER.[10] The portion thus added to the present edition has been to
a great extent taken from a former work of mine on the local
superstitions of Ceylon, and the "_Introduction and Progress of
Christianity_" there; and as the section relating to Buddhism had the
advantage, previous to publication, of being submitted to the Rev. Mr.
GOGERLY, the most accomplished Pali scholar, as well as the most erudite
student of Buddhistical literature in the island, I submit it with
confidence as an accurate summary of the distinctive views of the
Singhalese on the leading doctrines of their national faith.
[Footnote 1: See Part IV., c. xi.]
[Footnote 2: MAX MUELLER; _History of Sanskrit Literature_, p. 202.]
[Footnote 3: _Eastern Monachism_, an account of the origin, laws;
discipline, sacred writings, mysterious rites, religious ceremonies, and
present circumstances of the Order of Mendicants, founded by Gotoma
Budha. 8vo. Lond. 1850; and _A Manual of Buddhism in its Modern
Development_. 8vo. Lond. 1853.]
[Footnote 4: BURNOUF, _Introduction a l'Histoire du Bouddhieme Indien_.
4to. Paris. 1845; and translation of the _Lotus de la bonne Loi_.]
[Footnote 5: J. BARTHELEMY SAINT-HILAIRE _Le Bouddha et sa Religion_.
8vo. Paris. 1800.]
[Footnote 6: Introduction and Notes to the _Fo[)e] Kou[)e] Ki_ of FA
HIAN.]
[Footnote 7: Life and travels of HIOUEN THSANG.]
[Footnote 8: Translation of _Lalitavistara_ by M. PH. ED. FOUCAUX.]
[Footnote 9: Author of the _Indische Alterthumskunde;_ &c.]
[Footnote 10: Author of the _Indische Studien_; &c.]
A writer in the _Saturday Review_[1], in alluding to the passage in
which I have sought to establish the identity of the ancient Tarshish
with the modern Point de Galle[2], admits the force of the coincidence
adduced, that the Hebrew terms for "ivory, apes, and peacocks"[3] (the
articles imported in the ships of Solomon) are identical with the Tamil
names, by which these objects are known in Ceylon to the present day;
and, to strengthen my argument on this point, he adds that, "these terms
were so entirely foreign and alien from the common Hebrew language as to
have driven the Ptolemaist authors of the Septuagint version into a
blunder, by which the ivory, apes, and peacocks come out as '_hewn and
carven stones_.'" The circumstance adverted to had not escaped my
notice; but I forebore to avail myself of it; for, although the fact is
accurately stated by the reviewer, so far as regards the Vatican MS., in
which the translators have slurred over the passage and converted
"_ibha, kapi_, and _tukeyim_" into [Greek: "lithon toreuton kai
peleketon"] (literally, "stones hammered and carved in relief"); still,
in the other great MS. of the Septuagint, the _Codex Alexandrinus_,
which is of equal antiquity, the passage is correctly rendered by
"[Greek: odonton elephantinon kai pithekon kai taonon]." The editor of
the Aldine edition[4] compromised the matter by inserting "the ivory and
apes," and excluding the "peacocks," in order to introduce the Vatican
reading of "stones."[5] I have not compared the Complutensian and other
later versions.
[Footnote 1: Novemb. 19, 1859, p. 612.]
[Footnote 2: _See_ Vol. II. Pt. VII., c. i. p. 102.]
[Footnote 3: 1 _Kings_, x. 22.]
[Footnote 4: Venice, 1518.]
[Footnote 5: [Greek: Kai odonton elephantinon kai pithekon kai lithon].
[Greek: BASIA TRITE]. x. 22. It is to be observed, that Josephus appears
to have been equally embarrassed by the unfamiliar term _tukeyim_ for
peacocks. He alludes to the voyages of Solomon's merchantmen to
Tarshish, and says that they brought hack from thence gold and silver,
_much_ ivory, apes, _and AEthiopians_--thus substituting "slaves" for
pea-fowl--"[Greek: kai polus elephas, Aithiopes te kai pithekoi]."
Josephus also renders the word Tarshish by "[Greek: en te Tarsike
legomene thalatte]," an expression which shows that he thought not of
the Indian but the western Tarshish, situated in what Avienus calls the
_Fretum Tartessium_, whence African slaves might have been expected to
come.--_Antiquit. Judaicae_, l. viii. c. vii sec. 2.]
The Rev. Mr. CURETON, of the British Museum, who, at my request,
collated the passage in the Chaldee and Syriac versions, assures me that
in both, the terms in question bear the closest resemblance to the Tamil
words found in the Hebrew; and that in each and all of them these are of
foreign importation.
J. EMERSON TENNENT.
LONDON: November 28th, 1859.
NOTICE TO THE SECOND EDITION.
The rapidity with which the first impression has been absorbed by the
public, has so shortened the interval between its appearance and that of
the present edition, that no sufficient time has been allowed for the
discovery of errors or defects; and the work is re-issued almost as a
corrected reprint.
In the interim, however, I have ascertained, that Ribeyro's "Historical
Account of Ceylon," which it was heretofore supposed had never appeared
in any other than the French version of the Abbe Le Grand, and in the
English translation of the latter by Mr. Lee[1], was some years since
printed for the first time in the original Portuguese, from the
identical MS. presented by the author to Pedro II. in 1685. It was
published in 1836 by the Academia Real das Sciencias of Lisbon, under
the title of "_Fatalidade Historica da Ilka de Ceilao_;" and forms the
Vth volume of the a "_Collecao de Noticias para a Historia e Geograjia
das Nacoes Ultramarinas_" A fac-simile from a curious map of the island
as it was then known to the Portuguese, has been included in the present
edition.[2]
[Footnote 1: See Vol. II. Part vi. ch. i. p.5, note.]
[Footnote 2: Ibid. p. 6.]
Some difficulty having been expressed to me, in identifying the ancient
names of places in India adverted to in the following pages; and
mediaeval charts of that country being rare, a map has been inserted in
the present edition[1], to supply the want complained of.
[Footnote 1: See Vol. I. p. 330.]
The only other important change has been a considerable addition to the
Index, which was felt to be essential for facilitating reference.
J E.T.
INTRODUCTION.
There is no island in the world, Great Britain itself not excepted, that
has attracted the attention of authors in so many distant ages and so
many different countries as Ceylon. There is no nation in ancient or
modern times possessed of a language and a literature, the writers of
which have not at some time made it their theme. Its aspect, its
religion, its antiquities, and productions, have been described as well
by the classic Greeks, as by those of the Lower Empire; by the Romans;
by the writers of China, Burmah, India, and Kashmir; by the geographers
of Arabia and Persia; by the mediaeval voyagers of Italy and France; by
the annalists of Portugal and Spain; by the merchant adventurers of
Holland, and by the travellers and topographers of Great Britain.
But amidst this wealth of materials as to the island, and its
vicissitudes in early times, there is an absolute dearth of information
regarding its state and progress during more recent periods, and its
actual condition at the present day.
I was made sensible of this want, on the occasion of my nomination, in
1845, to an office in connection with the government of Ceylon. I found
abundant details as to the capture of the maritime provinces from the
Dutch in 1795, in the narrative of Captain PERCIVAL[1], an officer who
had served in the expedition; and the efforts to organise the first
system of administration are amply described by CORDINER[2], Chaplain to
the Forces; by Lord VALENTIA[3], who was then travelling in the East;
and by ANTHONY BERTOLACCI[4], who acted as auditor-general to the first
governor, Mr. North, afterwards Earl of Guilford. The story of the
capture of Kandy in 1815 has been related by an anonymous eye-witness
under the pseudonyme of PHILALETHES[5], and by MARSHALL in his
_Historical Sketch_ of the conquest.[6] An admirable description of the
interior of the island, as it presented itself some forty years ago, was
furnished by Dr. DAVY[7], a brother of the eminent philosopher, who was
employed on the medical staff in Ceylon, from 1816 till 1820.
[Footnote 1: _An Account of the Island of Ceylon_, &c., by Capt. R.
PERCIVAL, 4to. London, 1805.]
[Footnote 2: _A Description of Ceylon_, &c., by the Rev. JAMES CORDINER,
A.M. 2 vols. 4to. London, 1807.]
[Footnote 3: _Voyages and Travels to India, Ceylon, and the Red Sea_, by
Lord Viscount VALENTIA. 3 vols. 4to. London, 1809.]
[Footnote 4: _A View of the Agricultural, Commercial, and Financial
Interests of Ceylon_, &c., by A. BERTOLACCI, Esq. London, 1817.]
[Footnote 5: _A History of Ceylon from the earliest Period to the Year_
MDCCCXV, by PHILALETHES, A.M. 4to. Lond. 1817. The author is believed to
have been the Rev. G. Bisset.]
[Footnote 6: HENRY MARSHALL, F.R.S.E., &c. went to Ceylon as assistant
surgeon of the 89th regiment, in 1806, and from 1816 till 1821 was the
senior medical officer of the Kandyan provinces.]
[Footnote 7: _An Account of the Interior of Ceylon_, &c., by JOHN DAVY,
M.D. 4to, London, 1821.]
Here the long series of writers is broken, just at the commencement of a
period the most important and interesting in the history of the island.
The mountain zone, which for centuries had been mysteriously hidden from
the Portuguese and Dutch[1] was suddenly opened to British enterprise in
1815. The lofty region, from behind whose barrier of hills the kings of
Kandy had looked down and defied the arms of three successive European
nations, was at last rendered accessible by the grandest mountain road
in India; and in the north of the island, the ruins of ancient cities,
and the stupendous monuments of an early civilisation, were discovered
in the solitudes of the great central forests. English merchants
embarked in the renowned trade in cinnamon, which we had wrested from
the Dutch; and British capitalists introduced the cultivation of coffee
into the previously inaccessible highlands. Changes of equal magnitude
contributed to alter the social position of the natives; domestic
slavery was extinguished; compulsory labour, previously exacted from the
free races, was abolished; and new laws under a charter of justice
superseded the arbitrary rule of the native chiefs. In the course of
less than half a century, the aspect of the country became changed, the
condition of the people was submitted to new influences; and the time
arrived to note the effects of this civil revolution.
[Footnote 1: VALENTYN, In his great work on the Dutch possessions in
India, _Oud_ _en Nieuw Oost-Indien_, alludes more than once with regret
to the ignorance in which his countrymen were kept as to the interior of
Ceylon, concerning which their only information was obtained through
fugitives and spies. (Vol. v. ch. ii. p. 35; ch. xv. p. 205.)]
But on searching for books such as I expected to find, recording the
phenomena consequent on these domestic and political events, I was
disappointed to discover that they were few in number and generally
meagre in information. Major FORBES, who in 1826 and for some years
afterwards held a civil appointment in the Kandyan country, published an
interesting account of his observations[1]; and his work derives value
from the attention which the author had paid to the ancient records of
the island, whose contents were then undergoing investigation by the
erudite and indefatigable TURNOUR.[2]
[Footnote 1: _Eleven Years in Ceylon_, &c., by Major FORBES. 2 vols.
8vo. London. 1840.]
[Footnote 2: See Vol. I. Part III. ch. iii. p. 312.]
In 1843 Mr. BENNETT, a retired civil servant of the colony, who had
studied some branches of its natural history, and especially its
ichthyology, embodied his experiences in a volume entitled "_Ceylon and
its Capabilities_," containing a mass of information, somewhat defective
in arrangement. These and a number of minor publications, chiefly
descriptive of sporting tours in search of elephants and deer, with
incidental notices of the sublime scenery and majestic ruins of the
island, were the only modern works that treated of Ceylon; but no one of
them sufficed to furnish a connected view of the colony at the present
day, contrasting its former state with the condition to which it has
attained under the government of Great Britain.
On arriving in Ceylon and entering on my official functions, this
absence of local knowledge entailed frequent inconvenience. In my tours
throughout the interior, I found ancient monuments, apparently defying
decay, of which no one could tell the date or the founder; and temples
and cities in ruins, whose destroyers were equally unknown. There were
vast structures of public utility, on which the prosperity of the
country had at one time been dependent; artificial lakes, with their
conduits and canals for irrigation; the condition of which rendered it
interesting to ascertain the period of their formation, and the causes
of their abandonment; but to every inquiry of this nature, there was the
same unvarying reply: that information regarding them might possibly be
found in the _Mahawanso_ or in some other of the native chronicles; but
that few had ever read them, and none had succeeded in reproducing them
for popular instruction.
A still more serious embarrassment arose from the want of authorities to
throw light on questions that were sometimes the subject of
administrative deliberation: there were native customs which no
available materials sufficed to illustrate; and native claims, often
serious in their importance, the consideration of which was obstructed
by a similar dearth of authentic data. With a view to executive
measures, I was frequently desirous of consulting the records of the two
European governments, under which the island had been administered for
300 years before the arrival of the British; their experience might have
served as a guide, and even their failures would have pointed out errors
to be avoided; but here, again, I had to encounter disappointment: in
answer to my inquiries, I was assured that _the records, both of the
Portuguese and Dutch, had long since disappeared from the archives of
the colony_.
Their loss, whilst in our custody, is the more remarkable, considering
the value which was attached to them by our predecessors. The Dutch, on
the conquest of Ceylon in the seventeenth century, seized the official
accounts and papers of the Portuguese; and a memoir is preserved by
VALENTYN, in which the Governor, Van Goens, on handing over the command
to his successor in 1663, enjoins on him the study of these important
documents, and expresses anxiety for their careful preservation.[1]
[Footnote 1: VALENTYN, _Oud en Nieuw Oost-Indien_, &c., ch. xiii. p.
174.]
The British, on the capture of Colombo in 1796, were equally solicitous
to obtain possession of the records of the Dutch Government. By Art.
XIV. of the capitulation they were required to be "faithfully delivered
over;" and, by Art. XI., all "surveys of the island and its coasts" were
required to be surrendered to the captors.[1] But, strange to say,
almost the whole of these interesting and important papers appear to
have been lost; not a trace of the Portuguese records, so far as I could
discover, remains at Colombo; and if any vestige of those of the Dutch
be still extant, they have probably become illegible from decay and the
ravages of the white ants.[2]
[Footnote 1: Amongst a valuable collection of documents presented to the
Royal Asiatic Society of London, by the late Sir Alexander Johnston,
formerly Chief Justice of Ceylon, there is a volume of Dutch surveys of
the Island, containing important maps of the coast and its harbours, and
plans of the great works for irrigation in the northern and eastern
provinces.]
[Footnote 2: _Note to the second edition_.--Since the first edition was
published, I have been told by a late officer of the Ceylon Government,
that many years ago, what remained of the Dutch records were removed
from the record-room of the Colonial Office to the cutcherry of the
government agent of the western province: where some of them may still
be found.]
But the loss is not utterly irreparable; duplicates of the Dutch
correspondence during their possession of Ceylon are carefully preserved
at Amsterdam; and within the last few years the Trustees of the British
Museum purchased from the library of the late Lord Stuart de Rothesay
the Diplomatic Correspondence and Papers of SEBASTIAO JOZE CARVALHO E
MELLO (Portuguese Ambassador at London and Vienna, and subsequently
known as the Marquis de Pombal), from 1738 to 1747, including sixty
volumes relating to the history of the Portuguese possessions in India
and Brazil during the 16th, 17th, and 18th centuries. Amongst the latter
are forty volumes of despatches relative to India entitled _Colleccam
Authentica de todas as Leys, Regimentos, Alvaras e mais ordens que se
expediram para a India_, _desde o establecimento destas conquistas;
Ordenada por proviram de 28 de Marco de 1754_.[1] These contain the
despatches to and from the successive Captains-General and Governors of
Ceylon, so that, in part at least, the replacement of the records lost
in the colony may be effected by transcription.
[Footnote 1: MSS. Brit Mus. No. 20,861 to 20,900.]
Meanwhile in their absence I had no other resource than the narratives
of the Dutch and Portuguese historians, chiefly VALENTYN, DE BARROS, and
DE COUTO, who have preserved in two languages the least familiar in
Europe, chronicles of their respective governments, which, so far as I
am aware, have never been republished in any translation.
The present volumes contain no detailed notice of the _Buddhist faith_
as it exists in Ceylon, of the _Brahmanical rites,_ or of the other
religious superstitions of the island. These I have already described in
my history of _Christianity in Ceylon._[1] The materials for that work
were originally designed to form a portion of the present one; but
having expanded to too great dimensions to be made merely subsidiary, I
formed them into a separate treatise. Along with them I have
incorporated facts illustrative of the national character of the
Singhalese under the conjoint influences of their ancestral
superstitions and the partial enlightenment of education and gospel
truth.
[Footnote 1: _Christianity in Ceylon: its Introduction and Progress
under the Portuguese, the Dutch, the British and American Missions; with
an Historical Sketch of the Brahmanical and Buddhist Superstitons_ by
Sir JAMES EMERSON TENNENT. London, Murray, 1850.]
Respecting the _Physical Geography_ and _Natural History_ of the colony,
I found an equal want of reliable information; and every work that even
touched on the subject was pervaded by the misapprehension which I have
collected evidence to correct; that Ceylon is but a fragment of the
great Indian continent dissevered by some local convulsion; and that the
zoology and botany of the island are identical with those of the
mainland.[1]
[Footnote 1: It may seem presumptuous in me to question the accuracy of
Dr. DAVY'S opinion on this point (see his _Account of the Interior of
Ceylon, &c_., ch. iii. p. 78), but the grounds on which I venture to do
so are stated, Vol. I. pp. 7, 27, 160, 178, 208, &c.]
Thus for almost every particular and fact, whether physical or
historical, I have been to a great extent thrown on my own researches;
and obliged to seek for information in original sources, and in French
and English versions of Oriental authorities. The results of my
investigations are embodied in the following pages; and it only remains
for me to express, in terms however inadequate, my obligations to the
literary and scientific friends by whose aid I have been enabled to
pursue my inquiries.
Amongst these my first acknowledgments are due to Dr. TEMPLETON, of the
Army Medical Staff, for his cordial assistance in numerous departments;
but above all in relation to the physical geography and natural history
of the island. Here his scientific knowledge, successfully cultivated
during a residence of nearly twelve years in Ceylon, and his intimate
familiarity with its zoology and productions, rendered his co-operation
invaluable;--and these sections abound with evidences of the liberal
extent to which his stores of information have been generously imparted.
To him and to Dr. CAMERON, of the Army Medical Staff, I am indebted for
many valuable facts and observations on tropical health and disease,
embodied in the chapter on "_Climate_."
Sir RODERICK I. MURCHISON (without committing himself as to the
controversial portions of the chapter on the _Geology_ and _Mineralogy_
of Ceylon) has done me the favour to offer some valuable suggestions,
and to express his opinion as to the general accuracy of the whole.
Although a feature so characteristic as that of its _Vegetation_ could
not possibly be omitted in a work professing to give an account of
Ceylon, I had neither the space nor the qualifications necessary to
produce a systematic sketch of the Botany of the island. I could only
attempt to describe it as it exhibits itself to an unscientific
spectator; and the notices that I have given are confined to such of the
more remarkable plants as cannot fail to arrest the attention of a
stranger. In illustration of these, I have had the advantage of copious
communications from WILLIAM FERGUSON, Esq., a gentleman attached to the
Survey Department of the Civil Service in Ceylon, whose opportunities
for observation in all parts of the island have enabled him to cultivate
with signal success his taste for botanical pursuits. And I have been
permitted to submit the portion of my work which refers to this subject
to the revision of the highest living authority on Indian botany, Dr.
J.D. HOOKER, of Kew.
Regarding the _fauna_ of Ceylon, little has been published in any
collective form, with the exception of a volume by Dr. KELAART entitled
_Prodromus Faunae Zeilanicae_; several valuable papers by Mr. EDGAR L.
LAYARD in the _Annals and Magazine of Natural History_ for 1852 and
1853; and some very imperfect lists appended to PRIDHAM'S compiled
account of the island.[1] KNOX, in the charming narrative of his
captivity, published in the reign of Charles II., has devoted a chapter
to the animals of Ceylon, and Dr. DAVY has described the principal
reptiles: but with these exceptions the subject is almost untouched in
works relating to the colony. Yet a more than ordinary interest attaches
to the inquiry, since Ceylon, instead of presenting, as is generally
assumed, an identity between its _fauna_ and that of Southern India,
exhibits a remarkable diversity of type, taken in connection with the
limited area over which they are distributed. The island, in fact, may
be regarded as the centre of a geographical circle, possessing within
itself forms, whose allied species radiate far into the temperate
regions of the north, as well as into Africa, Australia, and the isles
of the Eastern Archipelago.
[Footnote 1: _An Historical Political, and Statistical Account of Ceylon
and its Dependencies_, by C. PRIDHAM, Esq. 2 vols. 8vo. London, 1849.
The author was never, I believe, in Ceylon, but his book is a laborious
condensation of the principal English works relating to it. Its value
would have been greatly increased had Mr. Pridham accompanied his
excerpts by references to the respective authorities.]
In the chapters that I have devoted to its elucidation, I have
endeavoured to interest others in the subject, by describing my own
observations and impressions, with fidelity, and with as much accuracy
as may be expected from a person possessing, as I do, no greater
knowledge of zoology and the other physical sciences than is ordinarily
possessed by any educated gentleman. It was my good fortune, however, in
my journies to have the companionship of friends familiar with many
branches of natural science: the late Dr. GARDNER, Mr. EDGAR L. LAYARD,
an accomplished zoologist, Dr. TEMPLETON, and others; and I was thus
enabled to collect on the spot many interesting facts relative to the
structure and habits of the numerous tribes of animals. These, chastened
by the corrections of my fellow-travellers, and established by the
examination of collections made in the colony, and by subsequent
comparison with specimens contained in museums at home, I have ventured
to submit as faithful outlines of the _fauna_ of Ceylon.
The sections descriptive of the several classes are accompanied by
lists, prepared with the assistance of scientific friends, showing the
extent to which each particular branch had been investigated by
naturalists, up to the period of my departure from Ceylon at the close
of 1849. These, besides their inherent interest, will, I trust,
stimulate others to engage in the same pursuits, by exhibiting the
chasms, which it still remains for future industry and research to fill
up;--and the study of the zoology of Ceylon may thus serve as a
preparative for that of Continental India, embracing, as the former
does, much that is common to both, as well as possessing within itself a
fauna peculiar to the island, that will amply repay more extended
scrutiny.
From these lists have been excluded all species regarding the
authenticity of which reasonable doubts could be entertained[1], and of
some of them, a very few have been printed in _italics_, in order to
denote the desirability of comparing them more minutely with well
determined specimens in the great national depositories before finally
incorporating them with the Singhalese catalogues.
[Footnote 1: An exception occurs in the list of shells, prepared by Mr.
SYLVANUS HANLEY, in which some whose localities are doubtful have been
admitted for reasons adduced. (See Vol. I, p. 234.)]
In the labour of collecting and verifying the facts embodied in these
sections, I cannot too warmly express my thanks for the aid I have
received from gentlemen interested in similar pursuits in Ceylon: from
Dr. KELAART and Mr. EDGAR L. LAYARD, as well as from officers of the
Ceylon Civil Service; the HON. GERALD C. TALBOT, Mr. C.E. BULLER, Mr.
MERCER, Mr. MORRIS, Mr. WHITING, Major SKINNER, and Mr. MITFORD.
Before venturing to commit these chapters of my work to the press, I
have had the advantage of having portions of them read by Professor
HUXLEY, Mr. MOORE, of the East India House Museum; Mr. R. PATTERSON,
F.R.S., author of the _Introduction to Zoology_, and by Mr. ADAM WHITE,
of the British Museum; to each of whom I am exceedingly indebted for the
care they have bestowed. In an especial degree I have to acknowledge the
kindness of Dr. J.E. GRAY, F.R.S. for valuable additions and corrections
in the list of the Ceylon Reptilia; and to Professor FARADAY for some
notes on the nature and qualities of the "Serpent Stone,"[1] submitted
to him. I have recorded in its proper place my obligations to Admiral
FITZROY, for his most ingenious theory in elucidation of the phenomena
of the _Tides_ around Ceylon.[2]
[Footnote 1: See Vol. I. Part II. ch. iii. p. 199.]
[Footnote 2: See Vol. II. Part VII. ch. i. p. 116.]
The extent to which my observations on _the Elephant_ have been carried,
requires some explanation. The existing notices of this noble creature
are chiefly devoted to its habits and capabilities _in captivity_; and
very few works, with which I am acquainted, contain illustrations of its
instincts and functions when wild in its native woods. Opportunities for
observing the latter, and for collecting facts in connection with them,
are abundant in Ceylon, and from the moment of my arrival, I profited by
every occasion afforded to me for studying the elephant in a state of
nature, and obtaining from hunters and natives correct information as to
its oeconomy and disposition. Anecdotes in connection with this subject,
I received from some of the most experienced residents In the island;
amongst others, Major SKINNER, Captain PHILIP PAYNE GALLWEY, Mr.
FAIRHOLME, Mr. CRIPPS, and Mr. MORRIS. Nor can I omit to express my
acknowledgments to PROFESSOR OWEN, of the British Museum, to whom this
portion of my manuscript was submitted previous to its committal to the
press.
In the _historical sections_ of the work, I have been reluctantly
compelled to devote a considerable space to a narrative deduced from the
ancient Singhalese chronicles; into which I found it most difficult to
infuse any popular interest. But the toil was not undertaken without a
motive. The oeconomics and hierarchical institutions of Buddhism as
administered through successive dynasties, exercised so paramount an
influence over the habits and occupations of the Singhalese people, that
their impress remains indelible to the present day. The tenure of temple
lands, the compulsory services of tenants, the extension of agriculture,
and the whole system of co-operative cultivation, derived from this
source organisation and development; and the origin and objects of these
are only to be rendered intelligible by an inquiry into the events and
times in which the system took its rise. In connection with this
subject, I am indebted to the representatives of the late Mr. TURNOUR,
of the Ceylon Civil Service, for access to his unpublished manuscripts;
and to those portions of his correspondence with Prinsep, which relate
to the researches of these two distinguished scholars regarding the Pali
annals of Ceylon. I have also to acknowledge my obligations to M. JULES
MOHL, the literary executor of M. E. BURNOUF, for the use of papers left
by that eminent orientalist in illustration of the ancient geography of
the island, as exhibited in the works of Pali and Sanskrit writers.
I have been signally assisted inn my search for materials illustrative
of the social and intellectual condition of the Singhalese nation,
during the early ages of their history, by gentlemen in Ceylon, whose
familiarity with the native languages and literature impart authority to
their communications; by ERNEST DE SARAM WIJEYESEKERE KAROONARATNE, the
Maha-Moodliar and First Interpreter to the Governor; and to Mr. DE
ALWIS, the erudite translator of the _Sidath Sangara._ From the Rev. Mr.
GOGERLY of the Wesleyan Mission, I have received expositions of Buddhist
policy; and the Rev. R SPENCE HARDY, author of the two most important
modern works on the archaeology of Buddhism[1], has done me the favour to
examine the chapter on SINGHALESE _Literature,_ and to enrich it by
numerous suggestions and additions.
[Footnote 1: _Oriental Monachism,_ 8vo. London, 1850; and _A Manual of
Buddhism,_ 8vo. London, 1853]
In like manner I have had the advantage of communicating with MR. COOLEY
(author of the _History of Maritime and Inland Discovery_) in relation
to the _Mediaeval History_ of Ceylon, and the period embraced by the
narrative of the Greek, Arabian, and Italian travellers, between the
fifth and fifteenth centuries.
I have elsewhere recorded my obligations to Mr. WYLIE, and to his
colleague, Mr. LOCKHART of Shanghae, for the materials of one of the most
curious chapters of my work, that which treats of the knowledge of
Ceylon possessed by the Chinese in the Middle Ages. This is a field
which, so far as I know, is untouched by any previous writer on Ceylon.
In the course of my inquires, finding that Ceylon had been, from the
remotest times, the point at which the merchant fleets from the Red Sea
and the Persian Gulf met those from China and the Oriental Archipelago;
thus effecting an exchange of merchandise from East and West; and
discovering that the Arabian and Persian voyagers, on their return, had
brought home copious accounts of the island, it occurred to me that the
Chinese travellers during the same period had in all probability been
equally observant and communicative, and that the results of their
experience might be found in Chinese works of the Middle Ages. Acting on
this conjecture, I addressed myself to a Chinese gentleman, WANG TAO
CHUNG, who was then in England; and he, on his return to Shanghae, made
known my wishes to Mr. WYLIE. My anticipations were more than realised
by Mr. WYLIE'S researches. I received in due course, extracts from
upwards of twenty works by Chinese writers, between the fifth and
fifteenth centuries, and the curious and interesting facts contained in
them are embodied in the chapter devoted to that particular subject. In
addition to these, the courtesy of M. STANISLAS JULIEN, the eminent
French Sinologue, has laid me under a similar obligation for access to
unpublished passages relative to Ceylon, in his translation of the great
work of HIOUEN THSANG; in his translation of the great work of HIOUEN
THSANG; descriptive of the Buddhist country of India in the seventh
century.[1]
[Footnote 1: _Memoires sur les Contrees Occidentales_, traduites du
Sanscrit en Chinois, en l'an 648, par M. STANISLAS JULIEN.]
It is with pain that I advert to that portion of the section which
treats of the British rule in Ceylon; in the course of which the
discovery of the private correspondence of the first Governor, Mr.
North, deposited along with the Wellesley Manuscripts, in the British
Museum[1], has thrown an unexpected light over the fearful events of
1803, and the massacre of the English troops then in garrison at Kandy.
Hitherto the honour of the British Government has been unimpeached in
these dark transactions; and the slaughter of the troops has been
uniformly denounced as an evidence of the treacherous and "tiger-like"
spirit of the Kandyan people.[2] But it is not possible now to read the
narrative of these events, as the motives and secret arrangements of the
Governor with the treacherous Minister of the king are disclosed in the
private letters of Mr. North to the Governor-general of India, without
feeling that the sudden destruction of Major Davie's party, however
revolting the remorseless butchery by which it was achieved, may have
been but the consummation of a revenge provoked by the discovery of the
treason concocted by the Adigar in confederacy with the representative
of the British Crown. Nor is this construction weakened by the fact,
that no immediate vengeance was exacted by the Governor in expiation of
that fearful tragedy; and that the private letters of Mr. North to the
Marquis of Wellesley contain avowals of ineffectual efforts to hush up
the affair, and to obtain a clumsy compromise by inducing the Kandyan
king to make an admission of regret.
[Footnote 1: Additional MSS., Brit. Mus., No. 13864, &c.]
[Footnote 2: DE QUINCEY, _collected Works_, vol. xii. p. 14.]
I am aware that there are passages in the following pages containing
statements that occur more than once in the course of the work. But I
found that in dealing with so many distinct subjects the same fact
became sometimes an indispensable illustration of more than one topic;
and hence repetition was unavoidable even at the risk of tautology.
I have also to apologise for variances in the spelling of proper names,
both of places and individuals, occurring in different passages. In
extenuation of this, I can only plead the difficulty of preserving
uniformity in matters dependent upon mere sound, and unsettled by any
recognised standard of orthography.
I have endeavoured in every instance to append references to other
authors, in support of statements which I have drawn from previous
writers; an arrangement rendered essential by the numerous instances in
which errors, that nothing short of the original authorities can suffice
to expose, have been reproduced and repeated by successive writers on
Ceylon.
To whatever extent the preparation of this work may have fallen short of
its conception, and whatever its demerits in execution and style, I am
not without hope that it will still exhibit evidence that by
perseverance and research I have laboured to render it worthy of the
subject.
JAMES EMERSON TENNENT.
LONDON: _July 13th, 1859._
PART I.
PHYSICAL GEOGRAPHY.
CHAPTER I
PHYSICAL GEOGRAPHY.--GEOLOGY.--MINERALOGY.--GEMS, CLIMATE, ETC.
GENERAL ASPECT.--Ceylon, from whatever direction it is approached,
unfolds a scene of loveliness and grandeur unsurpassed, if it be
rivalled, by any land in the universe. The traveller from Bengal,
leaving behind the melancholy delta of the Ganges and the torrid coast
of Coromandel; or the adventurer from Europe, recently inured to the
sands of Egypt and the scorched headlands of Arabia, is alike entranced
by the vision of beauty which expands before him as the island rises
from the sea, its lofty mountains covered by luxuriant forests, and its
shores, till they meet the ripple of the waves, bright with the foliage
of perpetual spring.
The Brahmans designated it by the epithet of "the resplendent," and in
their dreamy rhapsodies extolled it as the region of mystery and
sublimity[1]; the Buddhist poets gracefully apostrophised it as "a pearl
upon the brow of India;" the Chinese knew it as the "island of jewels;"
the Greeks as the "land of the hyacinth and the ruby;" the Mahometans,
in the intensity of their delight, assigned it to the exiled parents of
mankind as a new elysium to console them for the loss of Paradise; and
the early navigators of Europe, as they returned dazzled with its gems,
and laden with its costly spices, propagated the fable that far to
seaward the very breeze that blew from it was redolent of perfume.[2] In
later and less imaginative times, Ceylon has still maintained the renown
of its attractions, and exhibits in all its varied charms "the highest
conceivable development of Indian nature."[3]
[Footnote 1: "Ils en ont fait une espece de paradis, et se sont imagine
que des etres d'une nature angelique les habitaient."--ALBYROUNI, Traite
des Eres, &c.; REINAUD, Geographie d'Aboulfeda, Introd. sec. iii. p.
ccxxiv. The renown of Ceylon as it reached Europe in the seventeenth
century is thus summed up by PURCHAS in _His Pilgrimage_, b.v.c. 18, p.
550:--"The heauens with their dewes, the ayre with a pleasant
holesomenesse and fragrant freshnesse, the waters in their many riuers
and fountaines, the earth diuersified in aspiring hills, lowly vales,
equall and indifferent plaines, filled in her inward chambers with
mettalls and jewells, in her outward court and vpper face stored with
whole woods of the best cinnamons that the sunne seeth; besides fruits,
oranges, lemons, &c. surmounting those of Spaine; fowles and beasts,
both tame and wilde (among which is their elephant honoured by a
naturall acknowledgement of excellence of all other elephants in the
world). These all have conspired and joined in common league to present
unto Zeilan the chiefe of worldly treasures and pleasures, with a long
and healthfull life in the inhabitants to enjoye them. No marvell, then,
if sense and sensualitie have heere stumbled on a paradise."]
[Footnote 2: The fable of the "spicy breezes" said to blow from Arabia
and India, is as old as Ctesias; and is eagerly repeated by Pliny? lib.
xii. c. 42. The Greeks borrowed the tale from the Hindus, who believe
that the _Chandana_ or sandal-wood imparts its odours to the winds; and
their poete speak of the Malayan as the westerns did of the Sabaean
breezes. But the allusion to such perfumed winds was a trope common to
all the discoverers of unknown lands: the companions of Columbus
ascribed them to the region of the Antilles; and Verrazani and Sir
Walter Raleigh scented them off the coast of Carolina. Milton borrowed
from Diodorus Siculus, lib. iii. c. 46, the statement that:
"Far off at sea north-east winds blow
Sabaean odours from the spicy shore
Of Araby the Blest."
(_P.L._ iv. 163.)
Ariosto employs the same imaginative embellishment to describe the
charms of Cyprus:
"Serpillo e persa e rose e gigli e croco
Spargon dall'odorifero terreno
Tanta suavita, ch'in mar sentire
La fa ogni vento che da terra spire."
(_Oil. Fur._ xviii. 138.)
That some aromatic smell is perceptible far to seaward, in the vicinity
of certain tropical countries, is unquestionable; and in the instance of
Cuba, an odour like that of violets, which is discernible two or three
miles from land, when the wind is off the shore, has been traced by
Poeppig to a species of _Tetracera_, a climbing plant which diffuses its
odour during the night. But in the case of Ceylon? if the existence of
such a perfume be not altogether imaginary, the fact has been falsified
by identifying the alleged fragrance with cinnamon; the truth being that
the cinnamon laurel, unless it be crushed, exhales no aroma whatever;
and the peculiar odour of the spice is only perceptible after the bark
has been separated and dried.]
[Footnote 3: LASSEN, _Indische Alterthumskunde_ vol. i. p. 198.]
_Picturesque Outline_.--The nucleus of its mountain masses consists of
gneissic, granitic, and other crystalline rocks, which in their
resistless upheaval have rent the superincumbent strata, raising them
into lofty pyramids and crags, or hurling them in gigantic fragments to
the plains below. Time and decay are slow in their assaults on these
towering precipices and splintered pinnacles; and from the absence of
more perishable materials, there are few graceful sweeps along the
higher chains or rolling downs in the lower ranges of the hills. Every
bold elevation is crowned by battlemented cliffs, and flanked by chasms
in which the shattered strata are seen as sharp and as rugged as if they
had but recently undergone the grand convulsion that displaced them.
_Foliage and Verdure_.--The soil in these regions is consequently light
and unremunerative, but the plentiful moisture arising from the
interception of every passing vapour from the Indian Ocean and the Bay
of Bengal, added to the intense warmth of the atmosphere, combine to
force a vegetation so rich and luxuriant, that imagination can picture
nothing more wondrous and charming; every level spot is enamelled with
verdure, forests of never-fading bloom cover mountain and valley;
flowers of the brightest hues grow in profusion over the plains, and
delicate climbing plants, rooted in the shelving rocks, hang in huge
festoons down the edge of every precipice.
Unlike the forests of Europe, in which the excess of some peculiar trees
imparts a character of monotony and graveness to the outline and
colouring, the forests of Ceylon are singularly attractive from the
endless variety of their foliage, and the vivid contrast of its hues.
The mountains, especially those looking towards the east and south, rise
abruptly to prodigious and almost precipitous heights above the level
plains; the rivers wind through woods below like threads of silver
through green embroidery, till they are lost in a dim haze which
conceals the far horizon; and through this a line of tremulous light
marks where the sunbeams are glittering among the waves upon the distant
shore.
From age to age a scene so lovely has imparted a colouring of romance to
the adventures of the seamen who, in the eagerness of commerce, swept
round the shores of India, to bring back the pearls and precious stones,
the cinnamon and odours, of Ceylon. The tales of the Arabians are
fraught with the wonders of "Serendib;" and the mariners of the Persian
Gulf have left a record of their delight in reaching the calm havens of
the island, and reposing for months together in valleys where the waters
of the sea were overshadowed by woods, and the gardens were blooming in
perennial summer.[1]
[Footnote 1: REINAUD, _Relation des Voyages Arabes, &c., dans le
neuvieme siecle_. Paris, 1845, tom. ii. p. 129.]
_Geographical Position_.--Notwithstanding the fact that the Hindus, in
their system of the universe, had given prominent importance to Ceylon,
their first meridian, "the meridian of Lanka," being supposed to pass
over the island, they propounded the most extravagant ideas, both as to
its position and extent; expanding it to the proportions of a continent,
and at the same time placing it a considerable distance south-east of
India.[1]
[Footnote 1: For a condensed account of the dimensions and position
attributed to Lanka, in the Mythic Astronomy of the Hindus, see
REINAUD's _Introduction to Aboulfeda_, sec. iii. p. ccxvii., and his
_Memoire sur l'Inde_, p. 342; WILFORD's _Essay on the Sacred Isles of
the West_, Asiat. Researches, vol. x, p. 140.]
The native Buddhist historians, unable to confirm the exaggerations of
the Brahmans, and yet reluctant to detract from the epic renown of their
country by disclaiming its stupendous dimensions, attempted to reconcile
its actual extent with the fables of the eastern astronomers by imputing
to the agency of earthquakes the submersion of vast regions by the
sea.[1] But evidence is wanting to corroborate the assertion of such an
occurrence, at least within the historic period; no record of it exists
in the earliest writings of the Hindus, the Arabians, or Persians; who,
had the tradition survived, would eagerly have chronicled a catastrophe
so appalling.[2] Geologic analogy, so far as an inference is derivable
from the formation of the adjoining coasts, both of India and Ceylon, is
opposed to its probability; and not only plants, but animals, mammalia,
birds, reptiles, and insects, exist in Ceylon, which are not to be found
in the flora or fauna of the Indian continent.[3]
[Footnote 1: SIR WILLIAM JONES adopted the legendary opinion that Ceylon
"formerly perhaps, extended much farther to the west and south, so as to
include Lanka or the equinoctial point of the Indian
astronomers."--_Discourse on the Institution of a Society for inquiring
into the History, &c., of the Borderers, Mountaineers, and Islanders of
Asia_.--Works, vol. i. p. 120.
The Portuguese, on their arrival in Ceylon in the sixteenth century,
found the natives fully impressed by the traditions of its former extent
and partial submersion; and their belief in connection with it, will be
found in the narratives and histories of De Barros and Diogo de Couto,
from which they have been transferred, almost without abridgment, to the
pages of Valentyn. The substance of the native legends will be found in
the _Mahawanso_, c. xxii. p. 131; and _Rajavali_, p. 180, 190.]
[Footnote 2: The first disturbance of the coast by which Ceylon is
alleged to have been severed from the main land is said by the Buddhists
to have taken place B.C. 2387; a second commotion is ascribed to the age
of Panduwaasa, B.C. 504; and the subsidence of the shore adjacent to
Colombo is said to have taken place 200 years later, in the reign of
Devenipiatissa, B.C. 306. The event is thus recorded in the _Rajavali_,
one of the sacred books of Ceylon:--"In these days the sea was seven
leagues from Kalany; but on account of what had been done to the
teeroonansee (a priest who had been tortured by the king of Kalany), the
gods who were charged with the conservation of Ceylon, became enraged
and caused the sea to deluge the land; and as during the epoch called
_duwapawrayaga_ on account of the wickedness of Rawana, 25 palaces and
400,000 streets were all over-run by the sea, so now in this time of
Tissa Raja, 100,000 large towns, 910 fishers' villages, and 400 villages
inhabited by pearl fishers, making together eleven-twelfths of the
territory of Kalany, were swallowed up by the sea."--_Rajavali_, vol.
ii. p. 180, 190.
FORBES observes the coincidence that the legend of the rising of the sea
in the age of Panduwaasa, 2378 B.C., very nearly concurs with the date
assigned to the Deluge of Noah, 2348,--_Eleven Years in Ceylon_, vol.
ii. p. 258. A tradition is also extant, that a submersion took place at
a remote period on the east coast of Ceylon, whereby the island of
Giri-dipo, which is mentioned in the first chapter of the _Mahawanso_,
was engulfed, and the dangerous rocks called the Great and Little Basses
are believed to be remnants of it.--_Mahawanso_, c. i.
A _resume_ of the disquisitions which have appeared at various times as
to the submersion of a part of Ceylon, will be found in a Memoir _sur la
Geographie ancienne de Ceylon_, in the Journal Asiatique for January,
1857, 5th ser., vol. ix. p. 12; see also TURNOUR'S _Introd. to the
Mahawanso_, p. xxxiv.]
[Footnote 3: Some of the mammalia peculiar to the island are enumerated
at p. 160; birds found in Ceylon but not existing in India are alluded
to at p. 178, and Dr. A. GUENTHER, in a paper on the _Geographical
Distribution of Reptiles_, in the _Mag. of Nat. Hist._ for March, 1859,
says, "amongst these larger islands which are connected with the middle
palaeotropical region, none offers forms so different from the continent
and other islands as Ceylon. It might be considered the Madagascar of
the Indian region. We not only find there peculiar genera and species,
not again to be recognised in other parts; but even many of the common
species exhibit such remarkable varieties, as to afford ample means for
creating new nominal species," p. 280. The difference exhibited between
the insects of Ceylon and those of Hindustan and the Dekkan are noticed
by Mr. Walker in the present work, p. ii. ch. vii, vol. i. p. 270. See
on this subject RITTER'S _Erdkunde_, vol. iv. p. 17.]
Still in the infancy of geographical knowledge, and before Ceylon had
been circumnavigated by Europeans, the mythical delusions of the Hindus
were transmitted to the West, and the dimensions of the island were
expanded till its southern extremity fell below the equator, and its
breadth was prolonged till it touched alike on Africa and China.[1]
[Footnote 1: GIBBON, ch. xxiv.]
The Greeks who, after the Indian conquests of Alexander, brought back
the earliest accounts of the East, repeated them without material
correction, and reported the island to be nearly twenty times its actual
extent. Onesicritus, a pilot of the expedition, assigned to it a
magnitude of 5000 stadia, equal to 500 geographical miles.[1]
Eratosthenes attempted to fix its position, but went so widely astray
that his first (that is his most southern) parallel passed through it
and the "Cinnamon Land," the _Regio Cinnamomifera_, on the east coast of
Africa.[2] He placed Ceylon at the distance of seven days' sail from the
south of India, and he too assigned to its western coast an extent of
5000 stadia.[3] Both those authorities are quoted by Strabo, who says
that the size of Taprobane was not less than that of Britain.[4]
[Footnote 1: STRABO, lib. v. Artemidorus (100 B.C.), quoted by Stephanus
of Byzantium, gives to Ceylon a length of 7000 stadia and a breadth of
500.]
[Footnote 2: STRABO, lib. ii. c. i. s. 14.]
[Footnote 3: The text of Strabo showing this measure makes it in some
places 8000 (Strabo, lib. v.); and Pliny, quoting Eratosthenes, makes it
7000.]
[Footnote 4: STRABO, lib. ii. c. v. s. 32. Aristotle appears to have had
more correct information, and says Ceylon was not so large as
Britain.--_De Mundo_ ch. iii.]
The round numbers employed by those authors, and by the Greek
geographers generally, who borrow from them, serve to show that their
knowledge was merely collected from rumours; and that in all probability
they were indebted for their information to the stories of Arabian or
Hindu sailors returning from the Eastern seas.
Pliny learned from the Singhalese Ambassador who visited Rome in the
reign of Claudius, that the breadth of Ceylon was 10,000 stadia from
west to east; and Ptolemy fully developed the idea of his predecessors,
that it lay opposite to the "Cinnamon Land," and assigned to it a length
from north to south of nearly _fifteen degrees_, with a breadth of
_eleven_, an exaggeration of the truth nearly twenty-fold.[1]
Agathemerus copies Ptolemy; and the plain and sensible author of the
"Periplus" (attributed to Arrian), still labouring with the delusion of
the magnitude of Ceylon, makes it stretch almost to the opposite coast
of Africa.[2]
[Footnote 1: PTOLEMY, lib. vii. c. 4.]
[Footnote 2: ARRIAN, _Periplus_, p. 35. Marcianus Heracleota (whose
Periplus has been reprinted by HUDSON, in the same collection from which
I have made the reference to that of Arrian) gives to Ceylon a length of
9500 stadia with a breadth of 7500.--MAR. HER. p. 26.]
These extravagant ideas of the magnitude of Ceylon were not entirely
removed till many centuries later. The Arabian geographers, Massoudi,
Edrisi, and Aboulfeda, had no accurate data by which to correct the
errors of their Greek predecessors. The maps of the fourteenth and
fifteenth centuries repeated their distortions[1]; and Marco Polo, in
the fourteenth century, who gives the island the usual exaggerated
dimensions, yet informs us that it is now but one half the size it had
been at a former period, the rest having been engulfed by the sea.[2]
[Footnote 1: For an account of Ceylon as it is figured in the
_Mappe-mondes_ of the Middle Ages, see the _Essai_ of the VICOMTE DE
SANTAREM, _Sur la Cosmographie et Cartographie_, tom. iii. p. 335, &c.]
[Footnote 2: MARCO POLO, p. 2, c. 148. A later authority than Marco
Polo, PORCACCHI, in his _Isolario_, or "Description of the most
celebrated Islands in the World," which was published at Venice in A.D.
1576, laments his inability even at that time to obtain any authentic
information as to the boundaries and dimensions of Ceylon; and, relying
on the representations of the Moors, who then carried on an active trade
around its coasts, he describes it as lying under the equinoctial line,
and possessing a circuit of 2100 miles. "Ella gira di circuito, secondo
il calcole fatto da Mori, che modernamente l'hanno nauigato
d'ogn'intorno due mila et cento miglia et corre maestro e sirocco; et per
il mezo d'essa passa la linea equinottiale et e el principio del primo
clima al terzo paralello."--_L'Isole piu Famose del Monde, descritte da_
THOMASO PORCACCHI, lib. iii. p. 30.]
Such was the uncertainty thrown over the geography of the island by
erroneous and conflicting accounts, that grave doubts came to be
entertained of its identity, and from the fourteenth century, when the
attention of Europe was re-directed to the nascent science of geography,
down to the close of the seventeenth, it remained a question whether
Ceylon or Sumatra was the Taprobane of the Greeks.[1]
[Footnote 1: GIBBON states, that "Salmasius and most of the ancients
confound the islands of Ceylon and Sumatra."--_Decl. and Fall_ ch. xl.
This is a mistake. Saumaise was one of those who maintained a correct
opinion; and, as regards the "ancients," they had very little knowledge
of _Further India_ to which Sumatra belongs; but so long as Greek and
Roman literature maintained their influence, no question was raised as
to the identity of Ceylon and Taprobane. Even in the sixth century
Cosmas Indicopleustes declares unhesitatingly that the Sielediva of the
Indians was the Taprobane of the Greeks.
It was only on emerging from the general ignorance of the Middle Ages
that the doubt was first promulgated. In the Catalan Map of A.D. 1375,
entitled _Image du Monde_, Ceylon is omitted, and Taprobane is
represented by Sumatra (MALTE BRUN, _Hist. de Geogr._ vol. i, p. 318);
in that of _Fra Mauro_, the Venetian monk, A.D. 1458, Seylan is given,
but _Taprobane_ is added over _Sumatra_. A similar error appears in the
_Mappe-monde,_ by RUYCH, in the Ptolemy of A.D. 1508, and in the
writings of the geographers of the sixteenth century, GEMMA FRISIUS,
SEBASTIAN MUNSTER, RAMUSIO, JUL. SCALIGER, ORTELIUS, and MERCATOR. The
same view was adopted by the Venetian NICOLA DI CONTI, in the first half
of the fifteenth century, by the Florentine ANDREA CORSALI, MAXIMILIANUS
TRANSYLVANUS, VARTHEMA, and PIGAFETTA. The chief cause of this
perplexity was, no doubt, the difficulty of reconciling the actual
position and size of Ceylon with the dimensions and position assigned to
it by Strabo and Ptolemy, the latter of whom, by an error which is
elsewhere explained, extended the boundary of the island far to the east
of its actual site. But there was a large body of men who rejected the
claim of Sumatra, and DE BARROS, SALMASIUS, BOCHART CLUVERIUS,
CELLARIUS, ISAAC VOSSIUS and others, maintained the title of Ceylon. A
_Mappe-monde_ of A.D. 1417, preserved in the Pitti Palace at Florence
compromises the dispute by designating Sumatra _Taprobane Major_. The
controversy came to an end at the beginning of the eighteenth century,
when the overpowering authority of DELISLE resolved the doubt, and
confirmed the modern Ceylon as the Taprobane of antiquity. WILFORD, in
the _Asiatic Researches_ (vol. x. p. 140), still clung to the opposite
opinion, and KANT undertook to prove that Taprobane was Madagascar.]
_Latitude and Longitude_.--There has hitherto been considerable
uncertainty as to the position assigned to Ceylon in the various maps
and geographical notices of the island: these have been corrected by
more recent observations, and its true place has been ascertained to be
between 5 deg. 55' and 9 deg. 51' north latitude, and 79 deg. 41' 40" and
81 deg. 54' 50" east longitude. Its extreme length from north to south,
from Point Palmyra to Dondera Head, is 271-1/2 miles; its greatest width
137-1/2 miles, from Colombo on the west coast to Sangemankande on the
east; and its area, including its dependent islands, 25,742 miles, or
about one-sixth smaller than Ireland.[1]
[Footnote 1: Down to a very recent period no British colony was more
imperfectly surveyed and mapped than Ceylon; but since the recent
publication by Arrowsmith of the great map by General Fraser, the
reproach has been withdrawn, and no dependency of the Crown is more
richly provided in this particular. In the map of Schneider, the
Government engineer in 1813, two-thirds of the Kandyan Kingdom are a
blank; and in that of the Society for the Diffusion of Knowledge,
re-published so late as 1852, the rich districts of Neuera-kalawa and
the Wanny, in which there are innumerable villages (and scarcely a
hill), are marked as "_unknown mountainous region_." General Fraser,
after the devotion of a lifetime to the labour, has produced a survey
which, in extent and minuteness of detail, stands unrivalled. In this
great work he had the co-operation of Major Skinner and of Captain
Gallwey, and to these two gentlemen the public are indebted for the
greater portion of the field-work and the trigonometrical operations. To
judge of the difficulties which beset such an undertaking, it must be
borne in mind that till very recently travelling in the interior of
Ceylon was all but impracticable, in a country unopened even by bridle
roads, across unbridged rivers, over mountains never trod by the foot of
a European, and amidst precipices inaccessible to all but the most
courageous and prudent. Add to this that the country is densely covered
with forest and jungle, with trees a hundred feet high, from which here
and there the branches had to be cleared to obtain a sight of the signal
stations. The triangulation was carried on amidst privations,
discomfort, and pestilence, which frequently prostrated the whole party,
and forced their attendants to desert them rather than encounter such
hardships and peril. The materials collected by the colleagues of
General Fraser under these discouragements have been worked up by him
with consummate skill and perseverance. The base line, five and a
quarter miles in length, was measured in 1845 in the cinnamon plantation
at Kaderani, to the north of Colombo, and its extremities are still
marked by two towers, which it was necessary to raise to the height of
one hundred feet, to enable them to be discerned above the surrounding
forests. These it is to be hoped will be carefully kept from decay, as
they may again be called into requisition.
As regards the sea line of Ceylon, an admirable chart of the West coast,
from Adam's Bridge to Dondera Head, has been published by the East India
Company from a survey in 1845. But information is sadly wanted as to the
East and North, of which no accurate charts exist, except of a few
unconnected points, such as the harbour of Trincomalie.]
_General Form_.--In its general outline the island resembles a pear--and
suggests to its admiring inhabitants the figure of those pearls which
from their elongated form are suspended from the tapering end. When
originally upheaved above the ocean its shape was in all probability
nearly circular, with a prolongation in the direction of north-east. The
mountain zone in the south, covering an area of about 4212 miles[1], may
then have formed the largest proportion of its entire area--and the belt
of low lands, known as the Maritime Provinces, consists to a great
extent of soil from the disintegration of the gneiss, detritus from the
hills, alluvium carried down the rivers, and marine deposits gradually
collected on the shore. But in addition to these, the land has for ages
been slowly rising from the sea, and terraces abounding in marine shells
imbedded in agglutinated sand occur in situations far above high-water
mark. Immediately inland from Point de Galle, the surface soil rests on
a stratum of decomposing coral; and sea shells are found at a
considerable distance from the shore. Further north at Madampe, between
Chilaw and Negombo, the shells of pearl oysters and other bivalves are
turned up by the plough more than ten miles from the sea.
[Illustration]
[Footnote 1: This includes not only the lofty mountains suitable for the
cultivation of coffee, but the lower ranges and spurs which connect them
with the maritime plains.]
These recent formations present themselves in a still more striking form
in the north of the island, the greater portion of which may be regarded
as the conjoint production of the coral polypi, and the currents, which
for the greater portion of the year set impetuously towards the south.
Coming laden with alluvial matter collected along the coast of
Coromandel, and meeting with obstacles south of Point Calimere, they
have deposited their burthens on the coral reefs round Point Pedro; and
these gradually raised above the sea-level, and covered deeply by sand
drifts, have formed the peninsula of Jaffna and the plains that trend
westward till they unite with the narrow causeway of Adam's
Bridge--itself raised by the same agencies, and annually added to by the
influences of the tides and monsoons.[1]
[Footnote 1: The barrier known as Adam's Bridge, which obstructs the
navigation of the channel between Ceylon and Ramnad, consists of several
parallel ledges of conglomerate and sandstone, hard at the surface, and
growing coarse and soft as it descends till it rests on a bank of sand,
apparently accumulated by the influence of the currents at the change of
the monsoons. See an _Essay_ by Captain STEWART _on the Paumbem
Passage_. Colombo, 1837. See Vol. II. p. 554.]
On the north-west side of the island, where the currents are checked by
the obstruction of Adam's Bridge, and still water prevails in the Gulf
of Manaar, these deposits have been profusely heaped, and the low sandy
plains have been proportionally extended; whilst on the south and east,
where the current sweeps unimpeded along the coast, the line of the
shore is bold and occasionally rocky.
This explanation of the accretion and rising of the land is somewhat
opposed to the popular belief that Ceylon was torn from the main land of
India[1] by a convulsion, during which the Gulf of Manaar and the narrow
channel at Paumbam were formed by the submersion of the adjacent land.
The two theories might be reconciled by supposing the sinking to have
occurred at an early period, and to have been followed by the uprising
still in progress. But on a closer examination of the structure and
direction of the mountain system of Ceylon, it exhibits no traces of
submersion. It seems erroneous to regard it as a prolongation of the
Indian chains; it lies far to the east of the line formed by the Ghauts
on either side of the peninsula, and any affinity which it exhibits is
rather with the equatorial direction of the intersecting ranges of the
Nilgherries and the Vindhya. In their geological elements there is,
doubtless, a similarity between the southern extremity of India and the
elevated portions of Ceylon; but there are also many important
particulars in which their specific differences are irreconcilable with
the conjecture of previous continuity. In the north of Ceylon there is a
marked preponderance of aqueous strata, which are comparatively rare in
the vicinity of Cape Comorin; and whilst the rocks of the former are
entirely destitute of organic remains[2]; fossils, both terrestrial and
pelagic, have been found in the Eastern Ghauts, and sandstone, in some
instances, overlays the primary rocks which compose them. The rich and
black soil to the south of the Nilgherries presents a strong contrast to
the red and sandy earth of the opposite coast; and both in the flora and
fauna of the island there are exceptional peculiarities which suggest a
distinction between it and the Indian continent.
[Footnote 1: LASSEN, _Indische Alterthumskunde_, vol. i. p. 193.]
[Footnote 2: At Cutchavelly, north of Trincomalie, there exists a bed of
calcareous clay, in which shells and crustaceans are found in a
semi-fossilised state; but they are all of recent species, principally
_Macrophthalmus_ and _Scylla_. The breccia at Jaffna contains recent
shells, as does also the arenaceous strata on the western coast of
Manaar and in the neighbourhood of Galle. The existence of the
fossilised crustaceans in the north of Ceylon was known to the early
Arabian navigators. Abou-zeyd describes them as, "Un animal de mer qui
resemble a l'ecrevisse; quand cet animal sort de la mer, _il se
convertit en pierre_." See REINAUD, _Voyages faits par les Arabes_, vol.
i. p. 21. The Arabs then; and the Chinese at the present day, use these
petrifactions when powdered as a specific for diseases of the eye.]
_Mountain System_.--At whatever period the mountains of Ceylon may have
been raised, the centre of maximum energy must have been in the vicinity
of Adam's Peak, the group immediately surrounding which has thus
acquired an elevation of from six to eight thousand feet above the
sea.[1] The uplifting force seems to have been exerted from south-west
to north-east; and although there is much confusion in many of the
intersecting ridges, the lower ranges, especially those to the south and
west of Adam's Peak, from Saffragam to Ambogammoa, manifest a remarkable
tendency to run in parallel ridges in a direction from south-east to
north-west.
[Footnote 1: The following are the heights of a few of the most
remarkable places:--
Pedrotallagalla 8280 English feet.
Kirrigalpotta 7810 English feet.
Totapella 7720 English feet.
Adam's Peak 7420 English feet.
Nammoone-Koolle 6740 English feet.
Plain of Neuera-ellia 6210 English feet.]
Towards the north, on the contrary, the offsets of the mountain system,
with the exception of those which stretch towards Trincomalie, radiate
to short distances in various directions, and speedily sink down to the
level of the plain. Detached hills of great altitude are rare, the most
celebrated being that of Mihintala, which overlooks the sacred city of
Anarajapoora: and Sigiri is the only example in Ceylon of those solitary
acclivities, which form so remarkable a feature in the table-land of the
Dekkan, starting abruptly from the plain with scarped and perpendicular
sides, and converted by the Indians into strongholds, accessible only by
precipitous pathways, or steps hewn in the solid rock.
The crest of the Ceylon mountains is of stratified crystalline rock,
especially gneiss, with extensive veins of quartz, and through this the
granite has been everywhere intruded, distorting the riven strata, and
tilting them at all angles to the horizon. Hence at the abrupt
terminations of some of the chains in the district of Saffragam,
plutonic rocks are seen mingled with the dislocated gneiss. Basalt makes
its appearance both at Galle and Trincomalie. In one place to the east
of Pettigalle-Kanda, the rocks have been broken up in such confusion as
to resemble the effect of volcanic action--huge masses overhang each
other like suddenly-cooled lava; and Dr. Gygax, a Swiss mineralogist,
who was employed by the Government in 1847 to examine and report on the
mineral resources of the district, stated, on his return, that having
seen the volcanoes of the Azores, he found a "strange similarity at this
spot to one of the semi-craters round the trachytic ridge of
Seticidadas, in the island of St. Michael."[1]
[Footnote 1: Beyond the very slightest symptoms of disturbance,
earthquakes are unknown in Ceylon: and although its geology exhibits
little evidence of volcanic action (with the exception of the basalt,
which occasionally presents an appearance approaching to that of lava),
there are some other incidents that seem to suggest the vicinity of
fire; more particularly the occurrence of springs of high temperature,
one at Badulla, one at Kitool, near Bintenne, another near Yavi Ooto, in
the Veddah country, and a fourth at Cannea, near Trincomalie. I have
heard of another near the Patipal Aar south of Batticaloa. The water in
each is so pure and free from salts that the natives make use of it for
all domestic purposes. Dr. Davy adverts to another indication of
volcanic agency in the sudden and profound depth of the noble harbour at
Trincomalie, which even close by the beach is said to have been hitherto
unfathomed.
The Spaniards believed Ceylon to be volcanic; and ARGENSOLA, in his
_Conquista de las Malucas_, Madrid, 1609, says it produced liquid
bitumen and sulphur:--"Fuentes de betun liquido y bolcanes de perpetuas
llamas que arrojan entre las asperezas de la montana losas de
acufre."--Lib. v. p. 184. It is needless to say that this is altogether
imaginary.]
_Gneiss_.--The great geological feature of the island is, however, the
profusion of gneiss, and the various new forms arising from its
disintegration. In the mountains, with the exception of occasional beds
of dolomite, no more recent formations overlie it; from the period of
its first upheaval, the gneiss has undergone no second submersion, and
the soil which covers it in these lofty altitudes is formed almost
entirely by its decay.
In the lower ranges of the hills, gigantic portions of gneiss rise
conspicuously, so detached from the original chain and so rounded by the
action of the atmosphere, aided by their concentric lamellation, that
but for their prodigious dimensions, they might be regarded as boulders.
Close under one of these cylindrical masses, 600 feet in height, and
upwards of three miles in length, the town of Kornegalle, one of the
ancient capitals of the island, has been built; and the great temple of
Dambool, the most remarkable Buddhist edifice in Ceylon, is constructed
under the hollow edge of another, its gilded roof being formed by the
inverted arch of the natural stone. The tendency of the gneiss to assume
these concentric and almost circular forms has been taken advantage of
for this purpose by the Singhalese priests, and some of their most
venerated temples are to be found under the shadow of the overarching
strata, to the imperishable nature of which the priests point as
symbolical of the eternal duration of their faith.[1]
[Footnote 1: The concentric lamellar strata of the gneiss sometimes
extend with a radius so prolonged that slabs may be cut from them and
used in substitution for beams of timber, and as such they are
frequently employed in the construction of Buddhist temples. At
Piagalla, on the road between Galle and Colombo, within about four miles
of Caltura, there is a gneiss hill of this description on which a temple
has been so erected. In this particular rock the garnets usually found
in gneiss are replaced by rubies, and nothing can exceed the beauty of
the hand-specimens procurable from a quarry close to the high road on
the landward side; in which, however, the gems are in every case reduced
to splinters.]
_Laterite or "Cabook_."--A peculiarity, which is one of the first to
strike a stranger who lands at Galle or Colombo, is the bright red
colour of the streets and roads, contrasting vividly with the verdure of
the trees, and the ubiquity of the fine red dust which penetrates every
crevice and imparts its own tint to every neglected article. Natives
resident in these localities are easily recognisable elsewhere, by the
general hue of their dress. This is occasioned by the prevalence along
the western coast of _laterite_, or, as the Singhalese call it,
_cabook_, a product of disintegrated gneiss, which being subjected to
detrition communicates its hue to the soil.[1]
[Footnote 1: According to the _Mahawanso_ "Tamba-panni," one of those
names by which Ceylon was anciently called, originated in an incident
connected with the invasion of Wijayo, B.C. 543, whose followers,
"exhausted by sea-sickness and faint from weakness, sat down at the spot
where they had landed out of the vessels, supporting themselves on the
palms of their hands pressed to the ground, whence the name of
Tamba-pannyo, '_copper-palmed_,' from the colour of the soil. From this
circumstance that wilderness obtained the name of Tamba-panni; and from
the same cause also this renowned land became celebrated under that
name."--TURNOUR'S _Mahawanso_, ch. vi. p. 50. From Tamba-panni came the
Greek name for Ceylon, _Taprobane_. Mr. de Alwis has corrected an error
in this passage of Mr. Turnour's translation; the word in the original,
which he took for _Tamba-panniyo_, or "copper-palmed," being in reality
_tamba-vanna_, or "copper-coloured." Colonel Forbes questions the
accuracy of this derivation, and attributes the name to the _tamana_
trees; from the abundance of which he says many villages in Ceylon, as
well as a district in southern India, have been similarly called.
(_Eleven Years in Ceylon_, vol. i. p. 10.) I have not succeeded in
discovering what tree is designated by this name, nor does it occur in
MOON'S _List of Ceylon Plants_. On the southern coast of India a river,
which flows from the ghats to the sea, passing Tinnevelly, is called
Tambapanni. Tambapanni, as the designation of Ceylon, occurs in the
inscription on the rock of Girnar in Guzerat, deciphered by Prinsep,
containing an edict by Asoka relative to the medical administration of
India for the relief both of man and beast, (_Asiat. Soc. Journ. Beng._
vol. vii. p. 158.)]
The transformation of gneiss into laterite in these localities has been
attributed to the circumstance, that those sections of the rock which
undergo transition exhibit grains of magnetic iron ore partially
disseminated through them; and the phenomenon of the conversion has been
explained not by recurrence to the ordinary conception of mere
weathering, which is inadequate, but to the theory of catalytic action,
regard being had to the peculiarity of magnetic iron when viewed in its
chemical formula.[1] The oxide of iron thus produced communicates its
colouring to the laterite, and in proportion as felspar and hornblende
abound in the gneiss, the cabook assumes respectively a white or yellow
hue. So ostensible is the series of mutations, that in ordinary
excavations there is no difficulty in tracing a continuous connection
without definite lines of demarcation between the soil and the laterite
on the one hand, and the laterite and gneiss rock on the other.[2]
[Footnote 1: From a paper read to the Royal Physical Society of
Edinburgh by the Rev. J.G. Macvicar, D.D.]
[Footnote 2: From a paper on the Geology of Ceylon, by Dr. Gardner, in
the Appendix to Lee's translation of RIBEYRO'S _History of Ceylon_, p,
206. The earliest and one of the ablest essays on the geological system
and mineralogy of Ceylon will be found in DAVY'S _Account of the
Interior of Ceylon_, London, 1821. It has, however, been corrected and
enlarged by recent investigators.]
The tertiary rocks which form such remarkable features in the geology of
other countries are almost unknown in Ceylon; and the "clay-slate,
Silurian, old red sandstone, carboniferous, new red sandstone, oolitic,
and cretaceous systems" have not as yet been recognised in any part of
the island.[1] Crystalline limestone in some places overlies the gneiss,
and is worked for oeconomical purposes in the mountain districts where
it occurs.[2]
[Footnote 1: Dr. Gardner.]
[Footnote 2: In the maritime provinces lime for building is obtained by
burning the coral and madrepore, which for this purpose is industriously
collected by the fishermen during the intervals when the wind is off
shore.]
Along the western coast, from Point-de-Galle to Chilaw, breccia is found
near the shores, from the agglutination of corallines and shells mixed
with sand, and the disintegrated particles of gneiss. These beds present
an appearance very closely resembling a similar rock, in which human
remains have been found imbedded, at the north-east of Guadaloupe, now
in the British Museum.[1] Incorporated with them there are minute
fragments of sapphires, rubies, and tourmaline, showing that the sand of
which the breccia is composed has been washed down by the rivers from
the mountain zone.
[Footnote 1: Dr. Gardner.]
NORTHERN PROVINCES.--_Coral Formation_.--But the principal scene of the
most recent formations is the extreme north of the island, with the
adjoining peninsula of Jaffna. Here the coral rocks abound far above
high-water mark, and extend across the island where the land has been
gradually upraised, from the eastern to the western shore. The
fortifications of Jaffna were built by the Dutch, from blocks of breccia
quarried far from the sea, and still exhibit, in their worn surface, the
outline of the shells and corallines of which they mainly consist. The
roads, in the absence of more solid substances, are metalled with the
same material; as the only other rock which occurs is a loose
description of conglomerate, similar to that at Adam's Bridge and
Manaar.
The phenomenon of the gradual upheaval of these strata is sufficiently
attested by the position in which they appear, and their altitude above
high-water mark; but, in close contiguity with them, an equally striking
evidence presents itself in the fact that, at various points of the
western coast, between the island of Manaar and Karativoe, the natives,
in addition to fishing for chank shells[1] in the sea, dig them up in
large quantities from beneath the soil on the adjacent shores, in which
they are deeply imbedded[2], the land having since been upraised.
[Footnote 1: _Turbinella rapa_, formerly known as _Voluta gravis_ used
by the people of India to be sawn into bangles and anklets.]
[Footnote 2: In 1845 an antique iron anchor was found under the soil at
the northwestern point of Jaffna, of such size and weight as to show
that it must have belonged to a ship of much greater tonnage than any
which the depth of water would permit to navigate the channel at the
present day.]
The sand, which covers a vast extent of the peninsula of Jaffna, and in
which the coco-nut and Palmyra-palm grow freely, has been carried by the
currents from the coast of India, and either flung upon the northern
beach in the winter months, or driven into the lake during the
south-west monsoon, and thence washed on shore by the ripple, and
distributed by the wind.
The arable soil of Jaffna is generally of a deep red colour, from the
admixture of iron, and, being largely composed of lime from the
comminuted coral, it is susceptible of the highest cultivation, and
produces crops of great luxuriance. This tillage is carried on
exclusively by irrigation from innumerable wells, into which the water
rises fresh through the madrepore and sand; there being no streams in
the district, unless those percolations can be so called which make
their way underground, and rise through the sands on the margin of the
sea at low water.
_Wells in the Coral Rock_.--These phenomena occur at Jaffna, in
consequence of the rocks being magnesian limestone and coral, overlying
a bed of sand, and in some places, where the soil is light, the surface
of the ground is a hollow arch, so that it resounds as if a horse's
weight were sufficient to crush it inwards. This is strikingly
perceptible in the vicinity of the remarkable well at Potoor[1], on the
west side of the road leading from Jaffna to Point Pedro, where the
surface of the surrounding country is only about fifteen feet above the
sea-level. The well, however, is upwards of 140 feet in depth; the water
fresh at the surface, brackish lower down, and intensely salt below.
According to the universal belief of the inhabitants, it is an
underground pool, which communicates with the sea by a subterranean
channel bubbling out on the shore near Kangesentorre, about seven miles
to the north-west.
[Footnote 1: For the particulars of this singular well, see Vol. II. Pt.
IX. ch. vi. p. 536.]
A similar subterranean stream is said to conduct to the sea from another
singular well near Tillipalli, in sinking which the workmen, at the
depth of fourteen feet, came to the ubiquitous coral, the crust of which
gave way, and showed a cavern below containing the water they were in
search of, with a depth of more than thirty-three feet. It is remarkable
that the well at Tillipalli preserves its depth at all seasons alike,
uninfluenced by rains or drought; and a steam-engine erected at Potoor,
with the intention of irrigating the surrounding lands, failed to lower
it in any perceptible degree.
Other wells, especially some near the coast, maintain their level with
such uniformity as to be inexhaustible at any season, even after a
succession of years of drought--a fact from which it may fairly be
inferred that their supply is chiefly derived by percolation from the
sea.[1]
[Footnote 1: DARWIN, in his admirable account of the coral formations of
the Pacific and Indian oceans, has propounded a theory as to the
abundance of fresh water in the atolls and islands on coral reefs,
furnished by wells which ebb and flow with the tides. Assuming it to be
impossible to separate salt from sea water by filtration, he suggests
that the porous coral rock being permeated by salt water, the rain which
falls on the surface must sink to the level of the surrounding sea, "and
must accumulate there, displacing an equal bulk of sea water--and as the
portion of the latter in the lower part of the great sponge-like mass
rises and falls with the tides, so will the fresh water near the
surface."--_Naturalist's Journal_, ch. xx. But subsequent experiments
have demonstrated that the idea of separating the salt by filtration is
not altogether imaginary; as Darwin seems to have then supposed; and Mr.
WITT, in a remarkable paper _On a peculiar power possessed by Porous
Media of removing matters from solution in water_, has since succeeded
in showing that "water containing considerable quantities of saline
matter in solution may, by merely percolating through great masses of
porous strata during long periods, be gradually deprived of its salts
_to such an extent as probably to render even sea-water
fresh_."--_Philos. Mag_., 1856. Divesting the subject therefore of this
difficulty, other doubts would appear to suggest themselves as to the
applicability of Darwin's theory to coral formations in general. For
instance, it might be supposed that rain falling on a substance already
saturated with moisture, would flow off instead of sinking into it; and
that being of less specific gravity than salt water, it would fail to
"displace an equal bulk" of the latter. There are some extraordinary but
well attested statements of a thin layer of fresh water being found on
the surface of the sea, after heavy rains in the Bay of Bengal. (_Journ.
Asiat. Soc. Beng_. vol. v. p. 239.) Besides, I fancy that in the
majority of atolls and coral islands the quantity of rain which so small
an area is calculated to intercept would be insufficient of itself to
account for the extraordinary abundance of fresh water daily drawn from
the wells. For instance, the superficial extent of each of the
Laccadives is but two or three square miles, the surface soil resting on
a crust of coral, beneath which is a stratum of sand; and yet on
reaching the latter, fresh water flows in such profusion, that wells and
large tanks for soaking coco-nut fibre are formed in any place by merely
"breaking through the crust and taking out the sand."--_Madras Journal_,
vol. xiv. It is curious that the abundant supply of water in these wells
should have attracted the attention of the early navigators, and Cosmas
Indicoplenstes, writing in the sixth century, speaks of the numerous
small islands off the coast of Taprobane, with abundance of fresh water
and coco-nut palms, although these islands rest on a bed of sand.
(_Cosmas Ind_. ed. Thevenot, vol. i. p. 3, 20). It is remarkable that in
the little island of Ramisseram, one of the chain which connects Adam's
Bridge with the Indian continent, fresh water is found freely on sinking
for it in the sand. But this is not the case in the adjacent island of
Manaar, which participates in the geologic character of the interior of
Ceylon. The fresh water in the Laccadive wells always fluctuates with
the rise and fall of the tides. In some rare instances, as on the little
island of Bitra, which is the smallest inhabited spot in the group, the
water, though abundant, is brackish, but this is susceptible of an
explanation quite consistent with the experiments of Mr. Witt, which
require that the process of percolation shall be continued "during
_long_ periods and through _great masses of porous strata_;" Darwin
equally concedes that to keep the rain fresh when banked in, as he
assumes, by the sea, the mass of madrepore must be "sufficiently thick
to prevent mechanical admixture; and where the land consists of loose
blocks of coral with open interstices, the water, if a well be dug, is
brackish." Conditions analogous to all these particularised, present
themselves at Jaffna, and seem to indicate that the extent to which
fresh water is found there, is directly connected with percolation from
the sea. The quantity of rain which annually falls is less than in
England, being but thirty inches; whilst the average heat is highest in
Ceylon, and the evaporation great in proportion. Throughout the
peninsula, I am informed by Mr. Byrne, the Government surveyor of the
district, that as a general rule "_all the wells are below the sea
level_." It would be useless to sink them in the higher ground, where
they could only catch surface water. The November rains fill them at
once to the brim, but the water quickly subsides as the season becomes
dry, and "_sinks to the uniform level, at which it remains fixed for the
next nine or ten months_, unless when slightly affected by showers."
"_No well below the sea level becomes dry of itself_," even in seasons
of extreme and continued drought. But the contents do not vary with the
tides, the rise of which is so trifling that the distance from the
ocean, and the slowness of filtration, renders its fluctuations
imperceptible.
On the other hand, the well of Potoor, the phenomena of which indicate
its direct connection with the sea, by means of a fissure or a channel
beneath the arch of magnesian limestone, rises and falls a few inches in
the course of every twelve hours. Another well at Navokeiry, a short
distance from it, does the same, whilst the well at Tillipalli is
entirely unaffected as to its level by any rains, and exhibits no
alteration of its depths on either monsoon. ADMIRAL FITZROY, in his
_Narrative of the Surveying Voyages of the Adventure and Beagle_, the
expedition to which Mr. Darwin was attached, adverts to the phenomenon
in connection with the fresh water found in the Coral Islands, and the
rise and fall of the wells, and the flow and ebb of the tide. He
advances the theory propounded by Darwin of the retention of the
river-water, which he says, "does not mix with the salt water which
surrounds it except at the edges of the land. The flowing tide pushes on
every side, the mixed soil being very porous, and causes the water to
rise: when the tide falls, the fresh water sinks also. _A sponge full of
fresh water placed gently in a basin of salt water, will not part with
its contents for a length of time if left untouched_, and the water in
the middle of the sponge will be found untainted by salt for many days:
perhaps much longer if tried."--Vol. i. p. 365. In a perfectly
motionless medium the experiment of the sponge may no doubt be
successful to the extent mentioned by Admiral Fitzroy; and so the
rain-water imbibed by a coral rock might for a length of time remain
fresh where it came into no contact with the salt. But the disturbance
caused by the tides, and the partial intermixture admitted by Admir