ClIAP. VI.] 



THE TAMILS. 



539 



March, and the second in September, — but the operation 

 of stripping the roots is only resorted to once, about the 

 time of pruning in July.^ The fruit fi'om some cuttings 

 of white Muscat vines, obtained from Pondiclierry by Mr. 

 Dyke in 1840, proved to be identical with the Jaffna 

 grape, the Dutch having probably brought the latter 

 from Kegapatam, whence it liad been carried from Mus- 

 cat. Of late years, the Tamils at Jaffna have begun to 

 cultivate the \'ine ; so that grapes are now not only, pro- 

 curable in the public market, but are also occasionally sent 

 for sale to Colombo. 



Jaffna has been peopled by Tamils for at least two 

 thousand years, the original settlement being of date co- 

 eval with the earliest Malabar invasion of the islanel, 

 B.C. 204 ^, and their chiefs continued to assume the rank 



1 See Vol. I. Pt. I. cli. iii. p. 89. 



^ Tlie arrival of tlie Tamils and the 

 expulsion of the Nagas is coninie- 

 niorated in an ancient poem, called 

 the Kylasa Mala, a translation of 

 which will he found in the- Asiat-. 

 Journ. for 1827, vol. xxiv. p. 58, and 

 the substance of it has been embodied 

 in a sketch of the ancient history of 

 JaiRia, by Casie Chittt, in the 

 Journ. of the Asiatic Society of Co- 

 lombo, 1847, p. 09. The pui-jjoi-t of 

 the legend is, that a princess of Tan- 



i'ore, desirous of being freed fi'oni a 

 lorse's head with which she had the 

 misfortune to be born, was directed 

 in a vision to batlie in the well of 

 Keremale, on the northern shore of 

 Ceylon, near which a temple still 

 exists that, commemorative of lier 

 cure, bears the name " ^lahavitte- 

 puram," and an annual fosti\al is 

 perfonned in lier honour. The legend 

 runs, that one of her followers, a min- 

 strel or " Yalpanon," having made 

 his way to the Singhalese Court, the 

 reigning sovereign, charmed by his 

 powers, conferred on him the territory 

 of the peninsula, which tliereafter took 

 tlie name of Yalpannaii,ov Yaljxmna 

 nadu, by whicli it is still known to 

 the natives, though corrupted \>y 



Europeans into ".Taffiia and Jaflha- 

 patam. This occurrence took place 

 a century before the Cliristian era, 

 and, in succession to the lutanist, 

 there arose a dpiasty of IJajalis of 

 .Taflha, who held their court at Xal- 

 loor, .and tlience extended their con- 

 quest OA-er the Wanny and Manaai*. 

 It is even possible that " Kachias," 

 the ambassador who arrived at Rome 

 in the reign of Claudius, may have 

 represented, not the Singhalese mon- 

 arch, but the Rajah of Jatlha. De 

 Couto relates that about the year 

 1574, when Joao de Melho de Sam- 

 paio was Captain of ]Manaar, there 

 were discovered, under the founda- 

 tion of a building, an iron chain of 

 curious workmanship, and coins on 

 which the letter 6' wsxs legible, and 

 on the reverse the letters R.M.N.R., 

 which were imderstood to mean 



Cl.VVDIUS IjirEK.VTOR RoMAXORrjf, 



and were supposed to \m\e been 

 brouglit to Ceylon by tlu' freedman of 

 .Vnnius Rlocamus, who was the first 

 Roman that landed on the island, 

 " e cousa he possivel, quefossem e.«tcis 

 moedas das que alii Icvou o Liberto 

 do Anio." — De Couto, dec. v. liv, i, 

 ch. vii. vol. ii. pt. i. p. 71, 



