CiiAi'. II.] IXDIAN, ARABIAX, PERSIAN AUTHORITIES. 



;si 



over the opulent commerce of Ceylon wliicli was after- 

 wards enjoyed by the Portuguese and Dutch in succession 

 between a.d. 1505, and the expulsion of the latter by 

 the British hi a.d. 179G. Dming this early period, there- 

 fore, we must look for the continuation of accounts 

 regarding Ceylon to the hterature of the Arabs and the 

 Persians, and more especially to the former, by whom 

 geography was first cultivated as a science in the eighth 

 and ninth centuries under the auspices of the Khalifs 

 Ahnansour and Almamoun. On tiu:ning to the Arabian 

 treatises on geography, it will be found that the Ma- 

 hometan writers on these subjects were for the most part 

 grave and earnest men who, though liable equaUy with 

 the imaginative Greeks to be imposed on by their in- 

 formants, exercised somewhat more caution, and were 

 more disposed to confine their writings to statements of 

 facts derived from safe authorities, or to matters which 

 tliej^ had themselves seen. 



In their hands scientific geography combined theo- 

 retic precision, which had been introduced by their pre- 

 decessors, with the extended observation incident to 

 the victories and enlarged dominion of the Khahfs. Ac- 

 curate knowledge was essential for the ci\al govern- 

 ment of their conquests ^ ; and the pilgrimage to Mekka, 

 indispensable once at least in the hfe of every Maho- 

 metan ^, rendered the followers of the new faith ac- 

 quainted with many countries in addition to thek 

 own.^ 



Hence the records of their voyages, though present- 



^ " La science geographique, 

 comme les autres sciences en general, 

 notammement rastronomie, com- 

 menfa a se former cliez les Arabes, 

 dans la derniere nioitie du riii*^ siecle, 

 et se fixa dans la premiere nioitie du 

 ix". On fit usage des itineraires 

 traces par les chefs des amiees con- 

 querantes et des tableaux dresses 

 par les gouverueiu's de provinces ; 



en meme temps on mit a la contri- 

 bution les methodes propagees par 

 les Indiens, les Persans, et siu'tout 

 les Grecs, qui avaieut apporte le plus 

 de precision dans leurs operations." 

 — Reinatjd, Introd. Aboulfeda, i^'-c, 

 p. xl. 



2 PtEINAro, Introd. Abaidfeda, p. 

 cxxii. 



3 Ibid., vol. i. p. xl. 



