5G6 



MEDIEVAL HISTORY. 



[Part V, 



of Ceylon, given in the narratives of " 77^6' two Mahome- 

 tans" The former assigns to the island the fabulous 

 dimensions ascribed to it by the Hindus, and only alludes 

 to the ruby and the sapphire ^ as being found in the rivers 

 that flow from its majestic mountains. Massoudi asserts 

 that he visited Ceylon^, and describes^ from actual know- 

 ledge, the funeral ceremonies of a king, and the increma- 

 tion of his remains ; but as these are borrowed almost 

 verbatim from the account given by Soleyman^, tliere is 

 reason to beheve that he merely copied from Abou-zeyd 

 the portions of the '"''Meadows of GolcV"^ that have rela- 

 tion to Ceylon. 



In the order of time, this is the place to allude to 

 another Ai'abian mariner, whose voyages have had a 

 world-wide renov^ii, and who, more than any other 

 author, ancient or modern, has contributed to famiharise 

 Eiurope with the name and wonders of Serendib. I allude 

 to " Sindbad of the Sea," whose voyages were first inserted 

 by Galland, in his French translation of the " Thousand- 

 and-one Nights^ Sinclbad, in his own tale, professes to 

 have lived in the reign of the most illustiious Khahf of 

 the Abbassides, — 



'' Sole star of all that place and time ;- 



And saw him, in his golden prime. 



The o-ood Haromi iVlraschid." 



But Haroun died, a.d. 808, and Sindbad's narrative 

 is so manifestly based on the recitals of Abou-zeyd and 

 Massoudi, that although the author may have lived 



^ " Le rnbis ronge, et la pierre qui 

 est conleur de ciel." Albateny, 

 quoted by Reinaud, Introd. Abotjl- 

 FEDA, p. ccclxxxv. 



^ Massoitdi in Gildemeister, Script. 

 Arab. p. 154. Gildemeister discre- 

 dits the assertion of JVIassoudi, that 

 he had been in Ceylon. (lb. p. lo-i, n.) 



He describes Kalah as an island 

 distinct from Serendib. 



^ Aboxj-zeyd, Relation, See, p. 50. 



* A translation of Massottdt's 

 Meadows of Gold in English was 

 begun by Dr. Sprenger for the 

 " Oriental Translation Fund/' but it 

 has not advanced beyond the first 

 volume; which was published in 18-41. 



