429 



CHAR IL 



AGRICULTURE. — IRRIGATION. 



CATTLE AND CROPS. 



Agriculture. — Prior to the arrival of the BengaHs, and 

 even for some centuries after the conquest of Wijayo, 

 before the knowledge of agriculture had extended 

 throughout the island, the inhabitants appear to have 

 subsisted to a great extent by the chase. ^ Hunting the 

 elk and the boar was one of the amusements of the 

 early princes ; the " Eoyal Huntsmen " had a range of 

 buildings erected for their residence at Anarajapoora, 

 B.C. 504^, and the laws of the chase generously forbade 

 to shoot the deer except in flight."^ Dogs were trained to 

 assist in the sport * and the oppressed aborigines, diiven 

 by their conquerors to the forests of Eohuna and Maya, 

 are the subjects of frequent commendation in the pages of 

 the Mahaivanso^ from their singular abihty in the use of 

 the bow.^ 



Before the arrival of Wijayo, B.C. 543, agricultm^e was 

 unknoAvn in Ceylon, and grain, if grown at all, was not 

 systematically cultivated. The Yakkhos, the aborigines, 

 subsisted, as the Veddahs, their hneal descendants, Hve at 

 the present day, on fruits, honey, and the products of the 

 chase. Eice was distributed by Kuweni to the followers 

 of Wijayo, but it was " rice procured from the "wi^ecked 



* Malmwanso, cli. x. p. 59 ; ch. xiv. 

 p. 78 ; ch. xxiii. p. 142. The himt- 

 mgof the hare is meutioned 101 B.C. 

 3£ahmvanso, ch. xxiii. p. 141. 



2 Ibid., ch. X. p. m. 



3 Ibid., ch. xiv. p. 78. King De- 

 venipiatissa, when descrying the elk 

 which led hini to the uioiuitain where 



Mahindo was seated, exclaimed, ^' It 

 is not fair to shoot him standing ! " 

 he twano'ed his bowstring and fol- 

 lowed him as he fled. See ante, 

 p. 341, n. 



* Ibid., ch. xxviii. p. 166. 



5 Ibid., ch. xxxiii. pp. 202, 204, 

 &c. 



