Chap. IX.] KINGS OF THE " LOWER DYNASTY." 387 



first entered into political relations with China in the a.d. 

 fourth century.' It was about the year 400 a.d., says ^00 

 the author, " in the reign of the Emperor Nyan-ti, that 

 ambassadors arrived from Ceyloji bearing a statue of Fo 

 in jade-stone four feet two inches high, painted in five 

 colours, and of such singular beauty that one would have 

 almost doubted its being a work of human ingenuity. 

 It was placed in the Buddhist temple at Kien-Kang 

 (Nankin)." In the year 428 a.d., the King of Ceylon 

 (Maha Nama) sent envo3"s to offer tribute, and this 

 homage was repeated between that period and a.d. 529, 

 by three other Singhalese kings, whose names it is dif- 

 ficidt to identify with their Chinese designations of Kia-oe, 

 Kia-lo, and the Ho-h-ye. 



In A.D. 670, another ambassador arrived from Ceylon, 

 and A.D. 742, Chi-lo-mi-kia sent presents to the Emperor 

 ()f China consisting of pearls (perks de feu), golden flowers, 

 precious stones, ivory, and pieces of fine cotton cloth. 

 At a later period mutual intercourse became frequent 

 between the two countries, and some of the Chinese 

 travellers who resorted to Ceylon have left valuable 

 records as to the state of the island. 



It was during the reign of Maha Nama, about the year a.d. 

 413 A. D., that Ceylon was visited by Fa Hian, and the ^^^ 

 statements of the Mahawanso are curiously corroborated 

 by the observations recorded by this Chinese traveller. 

 lie describes accurately the geniahty of the climate, 

 whose uniform temperature rendered the seasons unchs- 

 tinguishable. Winter and summer, he says, are ahke 

 unknown, but perpetual verdure reahses the idea of a 



volumes. M. Stanislas Julien says 

 that iu another Chinese work, Pien-i- 

 tien, or The Ilidonj of Fureiyii Na- 

 tions, there is a conipihxtiou including 

 every passage in which Chinese au- 

 thors have written of Ceylon, which 

 occupies about forty pages 4to. Ih. 

 torn. xxix. p. 39. A number of 



these authorities will be found ex- 

 tracted in the chapter in which I 

 have described the intercourse be- 

 tween China and Ceylon, Vol. I. P. v. 

 ch. iii. 



1 Between the years 317 and 420 

 A.T). — Joiirn. Asiat. torn, xxviii. p. 

 401. 



