Sir A. Johnston's Letter relating to the preceding Inscription. 539t 



from tlie east were exchanged with those which came from tlie west. 

 Although the Mohammedan traders who were settled on Ceylon had 

 acquired great wealth and influence very early in the eleventh cen- 

 tury, and although they continued to possess a most extensive and 

 lucrative trade in its ports till the end of the fifteenth century, it was 

 during the twelfth and thirteenth centuries that they attained the highest 

 degree of their commercial prosperity and political influence on that 

 island. During that period, the great Mohammedan merchants of Manar 

 and Mantotte received into the immense warehouses which they had esta- 

 blished at this emporium the most valuable produce of the island from 

 their subordinate agents, who resided at the different sea-ports which were 

 situated in the neighbourhood of those provinces where the various articles 

 of commerce were produced. From their agents at Trincomalee they 

 received rice* and indigo ;! from those at Jaifiia, the chaya root or red dye,t 

 the wood of the black palmyra tree,§ and the sea-shells called chanks; from 

 those at CoodramalleJI pearls; from those at Putlam, areca-nut^ for chewing 

 with betel leaves ; ebony, satin, and calamander wood for furniture, and 

 sappan** wood for dyeing; from those at Colombo, cinnamontt and precious 

 stones ;tt from those at Barbareen, cocoa-nut oil and coire;§§ and from 

 those at Point de Galle, ivory and elephants.il || 



By means of armed vessels, which they maintained at their own expense 

 near the island of Manar, they commanded the only two passages by which 

 vessels of any size could pass through the ridge of sand-banks which extends 

 from the southern peninsula of India to the island of Ceylon, and 

 is known by the name of Adam's bridge. By means of the wealth 

 which they circulated through the country, they enabled the inhabitants 

 of the adjoining provinces to keep their tanks or reservoirs for water 

 in a constant state of repair, and their rice fields in a constant state 

 of cultivation. In the days of their commercial prosperity, the great 

 tank or artificial lake within a few miles of Mantotte,^^ which is called 

 the giant's tank,*** and which is now quite out of repair and completely 

 useless, was in perfect repair, and most extensively useful ; and the three 



• See Note (D). f See Note (E). f See Note (F). 



§ See Note (G). || See Note (H). f See Note (I). 



** See Note (K). f f See Note (L). fj See Note (M). 



§§ See Note (N). |||| See Note(O). ^f See Note (P). •** See Note (Q). 



i< B*2 



