570 



MEDIEVAL HISTORY. 



[Part V. 



sessing tlie hyacinth, receives goods from all nations, 

 and again distributes them, thus becoming a great em- 

 porium." 



This description of the Indian trade by Cosmas is 

 singularly corroborative of the account that had pre- 

 viously been given by the author of the Periplus ; and 

 as the Singhalese have at all times been remarkable for 

 their aversion to the sea, the country-craft\ thus men- 

 tioned by both authorities as engaged in voyages between 

 Ceylon and the countries east and west of Cape Comorin, 

 must have been manned in part by Malabars, but chiefly 

 by the Arabs and Persians, who, previous to the time of 

 Cosmas, had been induced to settle in large numbers in 

 Ceylon ^, attracted by the activity of its commerce, and 

 the extensive employment for shipping afforded by its 

 transit trade. 



Amongst the objects, the introduction of which was 

 eagerly encourged in Ceylon, Cosmas particularises 

 horses from Persia ; the traders in which were exempted 

 from the payment of customs. The most remarkable 

 exports were elephants, which from their size and sa- 

 gacity were found to be superior to those of India for 

 purposes of war. Hence the renown accorded to Ceylon, 

 as pre-eminently the birthplace of the Asiatic race of 

 elephants. 



" M/j76jOn 'Tanpotavriv 'Am)]yevtojv fXf^avTwr." 



DioNYSius Pekiegetes^ V. 593. 



Cosmas observes upon the smallness of their tusks com- 

 pared Avith those of Africa, and mentions the strange fact, 

 that ivory was then exported from Ethiopia to India, as 

 well as to Persia and the countries of Europe. He makes 

 other aUusions to Ceylon, but the passages extracted 

 above, present the buU^ of his information concerning the 

 island.^ 



1 " roTTiKo, TrXoirt." — Perijylus. 



" Reinatjd, 3Icm. siir Vlncle, p. 124. 

 and Introd. Aboulfeda. 



2 The above translation has been 



made from Thevenot's version of 

 Cosmas, which may differ slightly 

 from that of MoNTFAXJCOisr, Collect. 

 Nov, Patrum. Paris, 1700, vol. ii. p. 



