CuAP. IV.] MANUFACTURES. 451 



kind, and similar to that which is worn at the pre- 

 sent day. The bulk of the population wore scanty 

 cloths, without shape or seam, folded closely round tlie 

 body and the portion of the hmbs which it is cus- 

 tomary to cover ; and the Chinese, who visited the 

 island in the seventli century, described the people as 

 clothed in the loose robe, still known as a "com- 

 boy," a word probably derived from the Chinese koo- 

 pei, which signifies cotton.^ 



The wealthier classes indulged in flomng robes, and 

 Bujas Dasa the king, who in the fourth century devoted 

 himself to the study of medicine and the cure of the 

 sick, was accustomed, when seeldng objects for his com- 

 passion, to appear as a common person, simply " dis- 

 guising himself by gathering his cloth up between his 

 legs." ^ Eobes with flowers ^, and a turban of silk, con- 

 stituted the dress of state bestowed on men whom the 

 king dehghted to honom\^ Cloth of gold is spoken of 

 in the fifth century, but the allusion is probably made 

 to the Idnbaub of India. ^ 



JMaxual axd Mechan-ical Arts. Weaving. — The 

 aborigines practised the art of wea^dng before the arrival 

 of Wijayo, Kuweni, when the adventurer approached 

 her, was " seated at the foot of a tree, spinning thread ; " ^ 

 cotton was the ordinary material, but " hnen cloth " is 

 mentioned in the second century before Christ/ Wliite 

 cloths are spoken of as having been employed, in the 

 earhest times, in every ceremony for covering chairs 

 on which persons of rank were expected to be seated ; 

 whole " webs of cloth " were used to wrap the carandua 

 in which the sacred rehcs were enclosed ^, and one of the 



^ See Part y. cli. iii. on tlie Know- 

 ledge of Ceylon possessed by the 

 Chinese. 



* Maluncanso, ch. xxxvii. p. 245. 



5 By the ordinances of Buddhism 

 it was forbidden to the priesthood 

 "to adorn the body with flowers," 

 thus showing- it to have been a prac- 

 tice of the laity. Haedy's EaMern 



llonachism, ch. iv. p. 24 ; ch. xiii. 

 p. 128. 



* Mahaicmiso, ch. xxiii. p. 139. 



5 II)id., ch. xxxviii. p. 258. 



^ 3Iahawanso, ch. vii. p. 48 ; Rqja- 

 vali, p. 173. 



■^ Mahtncanso, ch. xxv. p, 152, 



^ Rajaratnacari, p. 72. 



