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XVIII. Account of a Flag representing the Introduction of the Caste of Chalias 
or Cinnamon-peclers, into Ceylon. By Sir Atexanper Jounston, Vice- 
President R.A.S., F.R.S. 
To Graves C. Haventon, Esq. M.A., F.R.S., Honorary Secretary to the 
Royal Asiatic Society. 
Sir: 
I beg leave to send you an account of the painting upon cloth which L 
presented to the Society some time ago,* and which is a fac-simile of a very 
ancient banner of the caste of Chalias, or cinnamon-peelers, on the island of 
Ceylon. 
The present numbers and importance of these people, render their history 
a subject of curious research. As the Cingalese inhabitants of Ceylon were, 
previous to the thirteenth century, ignorant of the art of weaving fine cloth, 
which was then known to the Hindu inhabitants of the peninsula of India, 
the kings of Kandy offered great rewards to any of their subjects who would 
bring over from the peninsula some weavers for the purpose of introducing 
that art into Ceylon. 
Early in the thirteenth century, a Mahommedan merchant of Barbareen, 
a port between Colombo and Point de Galle, on the south-west coast of the 
island, induced by the offer, brought over eight weavers from the peninsula 
in one of his trading vessels, and landed them at Barbareen. On their arrival, 
the then king of Kandy received them with great kindness, had them 
married to women of distinction, gave them houses and lands, established 
a manufactory for them in the vicinity of his palace, and conferred the 
highest honours upon their chief. 
The descendants of these persons, who were called by the other natives 
of the country Chalias, having in the course of two centuries become 
numerous and powerful, excited the jealousy of the Kandian government, and 
were compelled by the king of the country, as a punishment for some alleged 
» This painting was presented to the Society at the general meeting on the 17th of 
November 1827. A reduced fac-simile of it in lithography was delivered with the Ist Part 
of the 3d volume of the Transactions. 
