Part 104 (1/2)

According to the _Tung-teen_, the intercourse between them and the Singhalese, began during the Eastern Tsin dynasty, A.D. 317--419[1]; and one remarkable island still retains a name which is commemorative of their presence. Salang, to the north of Penang, lay in the direct course of the Chinese junks on their way to and from Ceylon, through the Straits of Malacca, and, in addition to its harbour, was attractive from its valuable mines of tin. Here the Chinese fleets called on both voyages; and the fact of their resort is indicated by the popular name ”Ajung-Selan,” or ”Junk-Ceylon;” by which the place is still known, _Ajung_, in the language of the Malays, being the term for ”large s.h.i.+pping,” and _Selan_, their name for Ceylon.[2]

[Footnote 1: _Tung-teen_, A.D. 740, b. clx.x.xviii. p. 17.]

[Footnote 2: _Sincapore Chronicle_, 1836.]

The port in Ceylon which the Chinese vessels made their rendezvous, was Lo-le (Galle), ”where,” it is said, ”s.h.i.+ps anchor, and people land.”[1]

[Footnote 1: w.a.n.g-KE, _Suh-wan-heen tung-kaou_, b. ccx.x.xvi p. 19.]

Besides rice, the vegetable productions of the island enumerated by the various Chinese authorities were aloes-wood, sandal-wood[1], and ebony; camphor[2], areca-nuts, beans, sesamum, coco-nuts (and arrack distilled from the coco-nut palm) pepper, sugar-cane, myrrh, frankincense, oil and drugs.[3] An odoriferous extract, called by the Chinese _Shoo-heang_, is likewise particularised, but it is not possible now to identify it.

[Footnote 1: The mention of sandal-wood is suggestive. It does not, so far as I could ever learn, exist in Ceylon; yet it is mentioned with particular care amongst its exports in the Chinese books. Can it be that, like the calamander, or Coromandel-wood, which is rapidly approaching extinction, sandal-wood was extirpated from the island by injudicious cutting, unaccompanied by any precautions for the reproduction of the tree?]

[Footnote 2: _Nan-she_, b. lxxviii. p. 13.]

[Footnote 3: _Suh-Hung keen-luh_, b. xlii. p. 52.]

Elephants and ivory were in request; and the only manufactures alluded to for export were woven cotton[1], gold ornaments, and jewelry; including models of the shrines in which were deposited the sacred relics of Buddha.[2] Statues of Buddha were frequently sent as royal presents, and so great was the fame of Ceylon for their production in the fourth and fifth centuries, that according to the historian of the Wei Tartar dynasty, A.D. 386-556, people ”from the countries of Central Asia, and the kings of those nations, emulated each other in sending artisans to procure copies, but none could rival the productions of Nan-te.[3] On standing about ten paces distant they appeared truly brilliant, but the lineaments gradually disappeared on a nearer approach.”[4]

[Footnote 1: _Tsih-foo yuen-kwei_, A.D. 1012, b. dcccclxxi. p. 15. At a later period ”Western cloth” is mentioned among the exports of Ceylon, but the reference must be to cloth previously imported either from India or Persia.--_Ming-she History of the Ming Dynasty,_ A.D. 1368--1643, b.

cccxxvi. p. 7.]

[Footnote 2: A model of the shrine containing the sacred tooth was sent to the Emperor of China in the fifth century by the King of Ceylon; ”_Chacha Mo-ho-nan,”_ a name which appears to coincide with Raja Maha Nama, who reigned A.D. 410--433.--_Shunshoo_, A.D. 487, b. xlvii. p. 6.]

[Footnote 3: Nan-te was a Buddhist priest, who in the year A.D. 456 was sent on an emba.s.sy to the Emperor of China, and was made the bearer of three statues of his own making.--_Ts[)i]h-foo yuen-kwei,_ b. li. p. 7.]

[Footnote 4: _Wei-shoo,_ A.D. 590, b. cxiv. p. 9.]

Pearls, corals, and crystals were eagerly sought after; but of all articles the gems of Ceylon were in the greatest request. The business of collecting and selling them seems from the earliest time to have fallen into the hands of the Arabs, and hence they bore in China the designation of ”Mahometan stones.”[1] They consisted of rubies, sapphires, amethysts, carbuncles (the ”red precious stone, the l.u.s.tre of which serves instead of a lamp at night”)[2]; and topazes of four distinct tints, ”those the colour of wine; the delicate tint of young goslings, the deep amber, like bees'-wax, and the pale tinge resembling the opening bud of the pine.”[3] It will not fail to be observed that throughout all these historical and topographical works of the Chinese, extending over a period of twelve centuries, from the year A.D. 487, there is no mention whatever of _cinnamon_ as a production of Ceylon; although ca.s.sia, described under the name of kwei, is mentioned as indigenous in China and Cochin-China. In exchange for these commodities the Chinese traders brought with them silk, variegated lute strings, blue porcelain, enamelled dishes and cups, and quant.i.ties of copper cash wanted for adjusting the balances of trade.[4]

[Footnote 1: _Tsih-ke,_ quoted in the Chinese _Mirror of Sciences,_ b.

x.x.xiii. p. 1.]

[Footnote 2: _Po-w[)u]h yaou-lan,_ b. x.x.xiii. p. 2.]

[Footnote 3: _Ibid_.]

[Footnote 4: _Suy-shoo_, ”History of the Suy Dynasty,” A.D. 633, b.

lx.x.xi. p. 3.]

Of the religion of the people, the earliest account recorded by the Chinese is that of F[)A] HIAN, in the fourth century[1], when Buddhism was signally in the ascendant. But in the century which followed, travellers returning from Ceylon brought back accounts of the growing power of the Tamils, and of the consequent eclipse of the national wors.h.i.+p. The _Yung-teen_ and the _Tae-ping_ describe at that early period the prevalence of Brahmanical customs, but coupled with ”greater reverence for the Buddhistical faith.”[2] In process of time, however, they are forced to admit the gradual decline of the latter, and the attachment of the Singhalese kings to the Hindu ritual, exhibiting an equal reverence to the ox and to the images of Buddha.[3]

[Footnote 1: _Fo[)e]-Kou[)e] Ki_, ch. x.x.xviii.]

[Footnote 2: _Tae-ping_, b. dccxciii, p. 9.]

[Footnote 3: _Woo-he[)o]-peen_, ”Records of the Ming Dynasty,” b.

lxviii. p. 4; _Tung-ne[)e]_, b. cxcvi. pp. 79, 80.]

The Chinese trace to Ceylon the first foundation of monasteries, and of dwelling-houses for the priests, and in this they are corroborated by the _Mahawanso_.[1] From these pious communities, the Emperors of China were accustomed from time to time to solicit transcripts of theological works[2], and their envoys, returning from such missions, appear to have brought glowing accounts of the Singhalese temples, the costly shrines for relics, and the fervid devotion of the people to the national wors.h.i.+p.[3]