148 



A. D. 41. 



their veflels were alike at both ends, and could change their covirfc 

 without going about, being probably the fame which are now called 

 proas. [Stra5o, L. ii, p. 124 ; L. xv, p. 1012. — P/in. L.vi, c. 22.] But 

 in the reign of the emperor Claudius the Europeans, by means of an 

 accident, acquired fome further knowlege of that celebrated ifland *. 

 A veflel belonging to Plocamus, the Roman farmer of the cuftoms in the 

 Red fea, being blown off the coaft of Arabia by ftrong north-eaft winds, 

 (' aquilonibus :' quere, if not rather north-weft ?) and being driven by 

 them in the Ocean for fifteen days, was carried beyond Carmania, and 

 arrived at the port of Hippuros in Taprobane f . The king of that part 

 of the ifland entertained the officer hofpitably during fix months, (be- 

 ing probably the time neceflary to wait for the commencement of the 

 monfoon proper for his return) and being informed of the greatnefs 

 and power of the Roman emperor, he fent ambafladors to him. As it 

 cannot be fuppofed, that the cuftom-farmer's feamen were capable of 

 finding their way back to the Red Tea through the Ocean, we muft be- 

 lieve, that the ambafllidors failed, either in a vefi^el belonging to their 

 own country, or in a foreign trading veflel, which would moft likely be 

 an Arabian one %. They informed the emperor, that their country con- 



* DIodorus Siculus, who wrote in the reign of 

 Augiilliu;, relates a (Irange ftory [i. ii, § 55-60] 

 of one lambulus being turned adrift in a boat, with 

 only one companion, by the people of Ethiopia, 

 with orders, diclattd by an oracle, to fteer due 

 fouth, and of his arrival in four months at a large 

 ifland, not named by him, bnt fuppofed by moft 

 modern writers to be Taprobane, though Mada- 

 gafcar anfwcrs better to the courfe fteercd. He 

 wrote an account of his voyages and difcoveries, 

 containing fome probabilities mixed with many 

 falfclioods. It appears from Sttabo, \_L. xv, p. 

 loizj that this pretended difcovcrer, or romancer, 

 was unk.nown to, or difregarded by, iiim. 



•|- To reach the loutli part of Ceylon in fifteen 

 days the vciicl mull have drifted about 140 geo- 

 graphical miles every day, even if fiie kept in a 

 ilraight courfe for it, which, after making every 

 allowance for the ftrong cunent generally running 

 to the eaftwaid in that Ra, is a very gveat drift. 

 Yet fome people endeavour to pcifuade us that 

 Taprobane was not Ceylon, but Sumatra, which 

 is about 7C0 miles farther. If the wind which 

 V;lew her off was really north-eaft, or noith-north- 

 eaft, ^aqui/o ; bnt it is impoffible to adjuft the 

 /■zi-e/ve, or c/j//, winds of the antitnts, concerning 

 the diieflion of which they do not agree among 

 themfelvcs, to the modern points of tile compafs^ 

 flic could never have got near the coall of Carma- 

 nia, and mull have made good a courfe within 

 cigiit points of the wind, allowing it to be north- 

 north-caft, which is fully as much as moll modern 

 vcfTcls can do in a hard gale of wind. It might 



therefor be fuppofed, that flie would rather have 

 gone to Madagalcar, or fome of the other iflands 

 on the eaft fide of Africa. But the name of Ta- 

 probane, unqueftionably proved by the Periplus of 

 the Erythrsan fea and Cofmas Indicopleullcs, and 

 alfo by its polition near the fuuth part of India, to 

 be the fame with the modern Ceylon, will by no 

 means admit of fuch a fuppolition ; and wc mull 

 fuppofe, that Pliny, in the ambiguity of the Latin 

 names of the winds, has applied aquilo to any of 

 the northerly winds. 



\ The ambafladors are faid to liave defcribed 

 the religious woilhip of their country as refembling 

 that of the Arabs, while their king worfhipped 

 Baehus the Greek god of wine, not one drop of 

 whieli was produced in his dominions. If the in- 

 formation co\ild be depended upon, it would infer 

 a very ftrong connettion indeed between Arabia 

 and Taprobane, and alfo prefent a very curious 

 coincidence in the antient and modern hiftory of 

 religion in Ceylon, the piefent principal king of 

 the ifland being of the Hindu leligion, while the 

 hulk of his fubjefts are worflrippers of Boodh, as 

 we learn from Captain Mackenzie's /intiquiiies of 

 Ctylon in the fixtli volume of the Afuittc refcarches. 

 But the relation of fuch abftrufe matters, received 

 through the medium of feveral interpreters fcarcely 

 knowing each-other's languages and the reports of 

 others after the lirft hearers, has very probiibly been 

 mifrcprefented to Pliny ; and therefor no cllimate 

 of the Arabian commercial intercourfc with Ta- 

 probane can fafely be founded upon it. 



