448 



SCIENCES AND SOCIAL ARTS. 



[Part IV. 



to Troyer, took part in the trade between Ceylon and the 

 West.i 



Of the trade between Ceylon and Kashmir and its 

 progress, the account given by Edeisi, the most re- 

 nowned of the writers on eastern geography, who wrote 

 in the twelfth century^, is interesting, inasmuch as it 

 may be regarded as a picture of this remarkable 

 commerce, after it had attained its highest develop- 

 ment. 



Edrisi did not write from personal knowledge, as he 

 had never visited either Ceylon or India ; but compiling 

 as he did, by command of Eoger II., of Sicily, a compen- 

 dium of geographical knowledge as it existed in his time, 

 the information which he has systematised may be re- 

 garded as a condensation of such facts as the eastern sea- 

 men engaged in the Indian trade had brought back with 

 them from Ceylon. 



" In the mountains around Adam's Peak," says 

 Edrisi, " they collect precious stones of every description, 

 and in tlie valleys they find those diamonds by means 

 of which they engrave the setting of stones on rings." 



The same mountains produce aromatic drugs per- 



' " La communication entre Kacli- 

 mil* et Ceylan n'a pas eu lieu seule- 

 ment par les entreprises guerrieres 

 quejeviensde rappeler, mais aussi 

 par im commerce paisible ; c'est du 

 cette lie que venaieut des artistes 

 qu'on appelait Rakchasas a cause du 

 merveilleux de leur art; et qui 

 cxecutaient des ouvrag-es pour 

 I'utilite et pour I'ornement d'un pays 

 montagneux etsujetaux inondations. 

 Ceci confirme ce que nous appren- 

 nent les gdogtaplies Grecs, que Cey- 

 lan, avant et apres le commencement 

 de notre ere, etait un grand point de 

 remiion pour le commerce de I'Orient 

 et de I'Occident." — JRaJatctranr/ini, 

 vol. ii. p. 434. 



'^ Abou-alKl-allah Mabommedwas 

 a IMoor of tlie family who reigned over 

 Malaga after tbe fall of the Kalifat 



of Cordova, in tlie early part of the 

 lltb century, and liis patronymic of 

 Edrisi or Al Edrissy implies tbat lie 

 was descended from the princes of 

 tbat race wbo bad previously beld 

 supreme power in wbat is at tlie pre- 

 sent day the Empire of Morocco. He 

 took up bis residence in Sicily under 

 tbe patronage of tbe Norman king, 

 Roger II., A.D. 1154, and the work 

 on geograpby wbicb be tliere com- 

 posed was not only based on tbe pre- 

 vious labours of Massoudi, Ibn 

 Plaukul, Alb>T0uni, and otbers, but 

 it embodied tbe reports of persons 

 commissioned specially by tbe king 

 to undertake voyages for tbe purpose 

 of bringing back coiTect accounts of 

 foreign countries. See Reinaud's 

 Introductmi to the Geography of 

 Ahdfeda, p. cxiii. 



