CuAP. II.] IXDIAX, AKABIAX, PEESIAN AUTHORITIES. 597 



shortly after, it is scarcely possible that he could liave 

 been a contemporary of the great ruler of Bagdad.^ 



One inference is clear, from the story of Sindbad, 

 that Avhilst the sea-coast of Ceylon was known to the 

 Arabians, the interior had been little explored by 

 them, and was so enveloped in mystery that any tale of 

 its wonders, however improbable, was sure to gain 

 credence. Hence, what Sindbad relates of the shore 

 and its inhabitants is devoid of exaggeration : in his 

 first visit the natives who received Mm were Malabars, 

 one of whom had learned Arabic, and they were engaged 

 in irrigating then- rice lands from a tank. These are 

 incidents which are characteristic of the north-western 

 coast of Ceylon at the present day ; and the commerce, 

 for which the island was remarkable in the nintli and 

 tenth centmies is imphed by the expression of Sindbad, 

 that on the occasion of his next voyage, when bearing 

 presents and a letter from the Khahf to the King of 

 Serendib, he embarked at Bassora in a ship, and with 

 him " were many merchants." 



Of the Arabian authors of the middle ages the one 

 who dwells most largely on Ceylon is Edrisi, born of a 

 family who ruled over Malaga after the fall of the 

 Khahfs of Cordova. He was a protege of the Sicilian 

 king, Eoger the Norman, at whose deske he compiled his 

 Geography, a.d. 1154. But with regard to Ceylon, his 

 pages contain only the oft-repeated details of the 

 height of the holy mountain, the gems found in its 

 ravines, the musk, the perfumes, and odoriferous woods 



RrrxAUD notices the Ketab-ala- \ Nights'' Mitefiauinieut/^ Edrisi, Kaz- 



Jatfb, or " Book of AVonders," of 

 MASSorDi, as one of the works whence 

 the materials of Sindhad's Voyages 

 were dra'WTi. {Ititi-ud. Abotjlfeda, 

 Tol. i. p. Ixxvii.) Hole published in 

 1797 A.D. his learned Hemarks on 

 the Origin of Sinclbad's Voyar/es, and 

 in that work, as well as in Langle's 

 edition of Sindbad ; and in the notes 

 bv La>'E to hisversiou of the " Arabian 



wini, and many other writers are 

 mentioned whose works contain pa- 

 rallel statements. But though Edri^i 

 and Kazwini wrote in the t^-elfth 

 and thirteenth centuries, it does not 

 follow that the author of Sindbad 

 lived later than they, as both may 

 have borrowed their illustrations 

 from the same early som-ces. 



