416 



THE SIXGIIALESE CIIEONICLES. 



[Part III. 



A.D. 



1410. 



the low countries, whilst the south of the island was sub- 

 divided into a variety of petty Idngdoms, the chiefs of 

 which, at Yapahu, at Kandy, at Gampola, at Matura, 

 Mahagam, Matelle, and other places \ acknowledged the 

 nominal supremacy of the sovereign at Cotta, with whom, 

 however, they were necessarily involved in territorial 

 quarrels, and in hostihties provoked by the withholding 

 of tribute. 



It was during this period that an event occurred, 

 which is obscurely aUuded to in some of the Singhalese 

 chronicles, but is recorded with such minute details in 

 several of the Chinese historical works, as to afford a 

 reliable illustration of the condition of the island and its 

 monarchy in the fifteenth century. Prior to that time 

 the community of rehgion between Ceylon and China, 

 and the eagerness of the latter country to extend its 

 commerce, led to the estabhshment of an intercourse 

 wliich has been elsewhere described ^ ; missions were 

 constantly despatched charged with an interchange of 

 courtesies between their sovereigns ; theologians and 

 officers of state arrived in Ceylon empowered to col- 

 lect information regarding the doctrines of Buddha ; 

 and envoys were sent in return bearing royal donations 

 of relics and sacred books. The Singhalese monarchs, 

 overawed by the magnitude of the imperial power, were 

 induced to avow towards China a sense of dependency 

 approaching to homage ; and the gifts which they offered 

 are all recorded in the Chinese annals as so many " pay- 

 ments of tribute." At length, in the year 1405 a.d.^, 



^ Rqjavali, p. 263 ; 3Iahmvanso, 

 ch. Ixxxvii. 



'^ See Part v. cli. iii. 



^ The narrative in tlie text is ex- 

 tracted from the Ta-tswg-yi-tum/, 

 a " Topographical Account of the 

 Manchoo Empire," wi-itten in the 

 seventeenth century, to a copy of 

 which, in the P>ritish Museum, wry 

 attention was directed by the eru- 

 dite Chinese scholar, Mr. Meadows, 

 author of " The Chinese and their 



RehelUons.''^ The story of this 

 Chinese expedition to Ceylon will 

 also be found in the Sc-yih-ke-foo- 

 choo, "A Description of Western 

 Countries," a.d. 1450 ; the Woo heo- 

 2KCU, " A Record of tlie Ming Dynas- 

 ty," A.D. 1522, b. Iviii. p. 3, and in the 

 Mim/slie, '^A History of the Ming 

 Dynasty," a.d. 1739, cccxxvi. p. 2. 

 For a further account of this event 

 see Part v. of this work^ ch. iii. 



