560. 



MEDIEVAL HISTORY. 



[Part V. 



two bays, and two chains of mountains, one of tliem 

 surrounding Adam's Peak, wliicli lie designates as Ma- 

 loea — tlie name by which the hills that environ it are 

 known in the Mahawanso. He mentions the recent 

 change of the name to Sahke (which Lassen conjectures 

 to be a seaman's corruption of the real name Sihala ^) ; 

 and he notices, in passing, the fact that the natives 

 wore their hair then as they do at tlie present day, in 

 such length and profusion as to give them an appear- 

 ance of effeminacy, " lAoWoig yuvoLixsloig slg ccttoiv otvcc- 

 ^sosixsvog 



" 2 



as ba>/s, Koktroq, from tlie estuaries, 

 to which he gives the epithet of 

 "lakes," Xtjxrjv. Of the former he 

 particularises two, the position of 

 which would nearly correspond with 

 the Bay of Trincomalie and the har- 

 bour of Colombo. Of the latter he 

 enumerates five, and from their posi- 

 tion they seem to represent the pecu- 

 liar estuaries formed by the conjoint 

 influence of the rivers and the cur- 

 rent, and known by the Ai-abs by 

 the term oi" f/obbs.^' A description of 

 them wiU be foimd at Vol. I. Part I. 

 ch. i. p. 43. 



^ May it not have an Egyptian 

 origin " Siela-Keh/' the land of 

 Sicla? 



^ The description of Taprobane 

 given by Ptolemy proves that the 

 island had been thoroughly circum- 

 navigated and examined by the ma- 

 riners who were his informants. Not 

 having penetrated the interior to any 

 extent, their reports relative to it are 

 confined to the names of the prin- 

 cipal tribes inhabiting the several 

 divisions and provinces, and the po- 

 sition of the metropolis and seat of 

 government. But respecting the 

 coast, their notes were evidently mi- 

 nute and generally accurate, and 

 from them Ptolemy was enabled to 

 enumerate in succession the bays, 

 rivers, and harbours, together with 

 the headlands and cities on the sea- 

 borde in consecutive order ; beginning 

 at the northern extremity, proceed- 

 ing southward down the western 

 coast, and returning along the east 



to Point Pedro. Although the ma- 

 jority of the names which he sup- 

 plies are no longer susceptible of 

 identification on the modem map, 

 some of them can be traced with- 

 out difficulty — thus his Ganges is 

 still the Mahawelli-ganga ; his Ma- 

 agrammuni would appear, on a 

 first glance, to be Mahagam, but as 

 he calls it the " meti-opolis," and 

 places it beside the great river, it is 

 evidently Biutenne, whose ancient 

 name was " Maha-yangana" or " Ma- 

 ha-welli-gam." His Anurogrammum, 

 which he calls jScktIXhov, " the royal 

 residence," is ob^-iously Anaraja- 

 poora, the city foimded by Anuradha 

 five himdred years before Ptolemy 

 was born (^3Iahawanso, ch. vii. p. 50, 

 X. 65, &c.). It may have borne in 

 his time the secondary rank of a vil- 

 lage or a town (gatn or gramnui), and 

 aftei-wards acquired the higher epi- 

 thet of Amiradha-;joo?-«, the " city " 

 of Anuradha, after it had grown to 

 the dimensions of a capital. The 

 province of the 3Iodntti in Ptolemy's 

 list has a close resemblance in name, 

 though not in position, to Mantotte ; 

 the people of Rayagam Corle still 

 occupy the coimtry assigned by him 

 to the Rhogandani — his Naga dibit 

 are identical with the Nagadiva of 

 the Malunonnso ; and the islet to 

 which he has given the name of 

 Bassa, occupies nearly the position 

 of the Basses, which it has been the 

 custom to believe were so called by 

 the Portuguese — " Baxos " or "Bai- 

 xos," sunken rocks. It is cmious 



