604 MEDIEVAL HISTORY. [Part V. 



his troops against the Mahometans on other parts of the 

 coast ; " where the Singhalese chroniclers relate that the 

 Tamils at this time had erected forts at Colombo, Ne- 

 gombo, and Chilaw. 



Ibn Batuta was permitted to land at Battala (Put- 

 lam) and found the shore covered with " cinnamon 

 wood," which " the merchants of Malabar transport 

 without any other price than a few articles of clothing 

 which are given as presents to the king. This may be 

 attributed to the circumstance that it is brought down 

 by the mountain torrents, and left in great heaps upon 

 the shore." 



This passage is interesting, though not devoid of ob- 

 scurity, for cinnamon is not known to grow further 

 north than Chilaw, nor is there any river in the district 

 of Putlam which could bear the designation of a " mountain 

 torrent." Along the coast further south the cinnamon 

 district commences, and the current of the sea may have 

 possibly carried with it the uprooted laurels described in 

 the narrative. The whole passage, however, demonstrates 

 that at that time, at least, Ceylon had no organised trade 

 in the spice. 



The Tamil chieftain exhibited to Ibn Batuta his 

 wealth in "pearls," and under his protection he made 

 the pilgrimage to the summit of Adam's Peak accom- 

 panied by four jyogees who visited the foot-mark every 

 year, " four Brahmans, and ten of the king's companions, 

 with fifteen attendants carrying provisions." The first 

 day he crossed a river, (the estuary of Calpentyn?) on 

 a boat made of reeds, and entered the city of Manar 

 Mandali ; probably the site of the present Minneri 

 MundaL This was the " extremity of the territory of 

 the infidel king," whence B3n Batuta proceeded to the 

 port of Salawat (Chilaw), and thence (turning inland) he 

 reached the city of the Singhalese sovereign at Gam- 

 pola, then called Ganga-sri-pura, which he contracts into 

 Kankar or Ganera.^ 



' As he afterwards writeS; Galle " Kale." 



