130 SPOLIA ZEYLANICA. 



Appendix VIII. 



Part of Letter from Mr. Edmund Backhouse of Pekin to the Director, 

 Colombo Museum {February 23, 1912). 



In regard to my notes on the visit of the Chinese evinuch to Ceylon, 

 I understand that the temple at which the Chinese record speaks of 

 their having lodged, and having been hospitably treated by the bonzes, 

 cannot have been the famous shrine at Kandy, as in my ignorance 

 I had supposed, owing to the fact that the artificial lake was not then in 

 existence. The Chinese text speaks of the envoys residing at a temple 

 close to a body of water and surrovinded by hills : this seemed to me 

 to answer the description of Kandy, and I therefore hazarded the 

 conjecture that this was the place referred to. It is evident that one 

 mvist seek elsewhere for the site : possibly there may be some old shrine 

 near Galle answering to the Chinese description ? * 



Edmund Backhouse. 



Appendix IX. t 



The beginning of the fifteenth centtiry was, however, signalized by an 

 occvirrence, the details of which throw light over the internal condition 

 of the Island, at a period regarding which the native historians are 

 more than usually obscure. At this time the glory of Buddhism had 

 declined, and the political ascendency of the Tamils had enabled the 

 Brahmans to taint the national worship by an infusion of Hindu 

 observances. The Se-yih-ke foo-choo, or " Description of Western 

 Countries," says that in 1405 a.d., the reigning king, A-lee-koo- 

 nae-wurh (Wijaya Bahu VI.), a native of Sollee, and "an adherent of 

 the heterodox faith, so far from honouring Buddha, tyrannized over 

 his followers." He maltreated strangers resorting to the Island, and 

 plundered their vessels, " so that the envoys from other lands, in 

 passing to and fro, were much annoyed by hirn." 



In that year a mission from China, sent with incense and offerings 

 to the shrine of the Tooth, was insulted and waylaid, and with difficulty 

 effected an escape from Ceylon. According to the Ming-she, or History 

 of the Ming Dynasty, " the Emperor Ching-tsoo, indignant at this 

 outrage on his people, and apprehensive lest the influence of China in 

 other countries besides Ceylon had declined during the reign of his 

 predecessors, sent Ching-Ho, a soldier of distinction, with a fleet of 

 sixty-two ships and a large miUtary escort, on an expedition to visit the 

 western kingdoms, furnished with proper credentials and rich presents 

 of silk and gold. Ching-Ho touched at Cochin-China, Sumatra, Java, 

 Cambodia, Siam, and other places, " proclaiming at each the 

 Imperial edict, and conferring Imperial gifts." If any of the princes 

 refused submission, they were subdued by force; and the expedition 

 returned to China in 1407 a.d. , accompanied by envoys from the several 

 nations, who came to pay coxirt to the Emperor. 



In the following year Ching-Ho, having been despatched on a similar 

 mission to Ceylon, the king, A-lee-ko-nae-wah, decoyed his party into 



* Probably this temple was at one of the older capitals, GampolaorKotte. 

 The former stands on the banks of the Mahaveli-ganga, and is "surrounded 

 by hills." 



t Tennent's " Ceylon," ed. 4, Vol. I., pp. 622-625. 



