Chap. 11.] LXDL'i:^', ARABIAN, PERSIAN AUTHORITIES. 



593 



a reasonable time, to cany away tlie maniifacturcd 

 articles, which they find placed at the same spot in 

 exchange. 



This singidar custom has been described without 

 variation by nmnerous wiiters on Ceylon, both in recent 

 and remote times. To trace it backwards, it is narrated, 

 nearly as I have stated it, by Robert Knox in 1681 ^ ; 

 and it is confirmed by Valentyn, the Dutch historian of 

 Ceylon^; as well as by Eibeyro, the Portuguese, who 

 wrote somewhat earher.^ Albyrouni, the geographer, 

 who in the reign of Mahomet of Ghuznee, a.d. 1030, de- 

 scribed this singular feature in the trade wdtli the island, 

 of which he speaks under the name of Lanka, says that it 

 was the beUef of the Arabian mariners that the parties 

 with whom they held their mysterious deahngs were 

 demons or savages.'^ 



^ Knox, Historical Relation, ^-c, 

 part iii. ch. i. p. G2. 



^ Valentyn, Oud en Nieiiiv Oost- 

 Indien, ch. iii. p. 49. 



^ " Lorsqu'ils out besoin de baches 

 oil de fleches, ils font un inodele avec 

 des feiiilles d'arbre, et vont hx nuit 

 porter ce modele, et la moitie d"im 

 cerf oil d'uu sanglier, a la poi-te d'lin 

 arnmrier, qui voyant le matin cette 

 viaude pendue a su porte, s^ait ce que 

 cela veut dire : il travaille aussi-tot et 

 3 jours apres il pend les fleches ou 

 les baches au meme endroit ou etoit 

 la viande, et la unit suivante le Beda 

 les vient prendre." — Ribeteo, Hid. 

 de Ceylan, A.D. 1G8G, ch. xxiv. p. 179. 



* "Les marins se reimissent pour 

 dire que lorsque les navires sont 

 arrives dans ces parages, quelques uns 

 de I'equipage montent sur des cha- 

 loupes et descendent a ten-e pour y 

 deposer, soit de I'argent, soit des objets 

 utiles a la persoune des habitans, tels 

 que des pag'ues, du sel, etc. Le lende- 

 niain, quand ils revieunent, ils trou- 

 vent a la place de I'argent des pagnes 

 et du sel, ime quautite de girofle 

 d'lme valeur egale. On ajoute que 

 ce commerce se fait avec des genies, 

 oU; suivant d'autres, avec des hommes 



restesal'etatsauvage." — Albyroxtni, 

 transl. by Reinaxjd, Introd. to Abofl- 

 FEDA, sec. iii. p. ccc. See also 

 Reinatjd, 3Iem. sur VInde, p. 343. 

 I have before alluded (p. 538, w.) to 

 the treatise De 3Io?-ibtts Brachma- 

 nortini, ascribed to Palladius, one 

 version of which is embodied in the 

 spurious Life of Alexander the Great, 

 written by the Pseudo-Callisthenes. 

 In it the traveller from Thebes, who 

 is the author's informant, states, that 

 when in Ceylon, he obtained pepper 

 from the Besadae, and succeeded in 

 getting so near them as to be able to 

 describe accurately their appearance, 

 their low stature and feeble confi- 

 guration, their large heads and 

 shaggy imcut hair, — a description 

 which in every particular .agrees with 

 the aspect of the Veddahs at the 

 present day. His expression that 

 he succeeded in " getting near " 



them, lyi'^'ao-n tyyi'Q twj' Kiikoufni'ioi' 

 Beadcwv, shows their propensity to 

 conceal themselves even Avhen bring- 

 ing the articles which they had col- 

 lected in the woods to sell. — Pseudo- 

 Callisthenes, lib. iii. ch. vii. Paiis, 

 184li, p. 103. 



