ClIAP. III.] 



EARLY IMPORTS. 



447 



slaves, chariots, and horses were frequently transmitted 

 from India. The riding horses and chargers, so often 

 spoken of \ must necessarily have been introduced from 

 thence, and were probably of Arab blood; but I have 

 not succeeded in discovering to what particular race 

 the " Sindhawa " horses belonged, of which fom^ purely 

 white were harnessed to the state carriage of Dutugai- 

 munu.^ Gold cloth ^, frankincense, and sandal-wood were 

 brought from India ^, as was also a species of " clay " 

 and of " cloud-colom^ed stone," which appear to have 

 been used in the construction of dagobas.^ Silk ^ and 

 vermihon '' indicate the activity of trade with China ; and 

 woollen cloth ^ and carpets ^ with Persia and Kashmu\ 



Intercourse with Kashmir. — Possibly the woollen 

 cloths referred to may have been shawls, and there is 

 e\idence in the Rajatarangini^^, that at a very early 

 period the possession of a common religion led to an 

 intercourse between Ceylon and Kashmir, originating 

 in the sympatliies of Buddhism, but perpetuated by 

 the Kashmuians for the pui'suit of commerce. In the 

 fabulous period of the narrative, a king of Kashmir is 

 said to have sent to Ceylon for a dehcately fine cloth, em- 

 broidered with golden footsteps. ^^ In the eighth century 

 of tlie Christian era, Sino-halese enoineers were sent for to 

 construct Avorks in Kashmir ^^ ; and Kashmir, according 



1 3Iahaivc(nso, cli. xxii. p. 134, 

 &c. iS:c. 



^ Ibid., cli. xxiii. p. 142; cli. xxxi. 

 p. 18G. 



• ^ A.D.459. 3Iahaicati,so,ch.. xxxyiii. 

 p. 258. 



" Ibid, ch. xxiii. p. 138. 



^ Ibid., cli. xxix. p. 109 ; ch. xxx. 

 p. 179. 



'^ Ibid., cli. xxiii. p. 139 ; Rajarat- 

 nacari, p. 49. 



' Ibid., ch. xxix. p. 1G9 ; Rajarat- 

 ncicari, p. 51. 



^ Mahawanso, ch. xxx. p. 177 ; 

 Rajavali, p. 209. Woollen cloth is 

 described as " most valuable " — an 



epithet which indicates its rarity, and 

 probably foreign origin. 



° 3Iahmoanso, ch. xiv. p. 82 ; ch. 

 XT. p. 87 ; ch. XXV. p. 151 ; carpets of 

 wool, lb. ch. xxvii. p. 104. 



1° The RaJ(da)-a)if/ini vesemhles the 

 3Iahaicanso, in being a metrical 

 chronicle of Kashmir written at 

 A'arions times by a series of authors, 

 the earliest of whom lived in the 

 12th century. It has been translated 

 into French by 31. Troyer, Paris, 

 1840. 



^^ Rnjataramiini, b. i. si. 294. 



'- Rajaturatujini, b. iv. si. 502, &c. 



