Chap. III.] CEYLON AS KNOWN TO THE CHINESE. 



609 



Like the Greek geographers, the earhest Chinese 

 autliorities grossly exaggerated the size of Ceylon : they 

 represented it as Ipng " cross-wise in the Indian 

 Ocean \ and extending in width from east to west one 

 tliird more than in depth from north to south.^ They 

 were strnck by the altitude of its hills, and, above all, 

 by the lofty crest of Adam's Peak, which served as the 

 land-mark for ships approaching the island. They 

 speak reverentially of the sacred foot-mark^ impressed 



— IIiotjex-Thsan^g. His Life and 

 Travels, a.d. 645, French transl., by 

 Stanislas Julien. Paris, 1853. — 

 Nan-sM, '' History of the Southern 

 Empire," a.d. 317 — 589, by Le-tex- 

 SHOW, A.D. 650. — Tumi-teen, "Cyc-lo- 

 paedia of History," by Too- Yew, a.d. 

 740. — Ke-Ts^ee si-1/i.h hinfj-Chim/, 

 *' Itineraiy of Ke-]s'e£'s Travels in the 

 Western Regions," from a.d. 964 — 

 976. — Tae-phuj yu-lan, " The Tae- 

 ping Digest of History," compiled by 

 Imperial Command, a.d. 983. — 

 Tslh-foo yttcn-Kwei, " Great De- 

 pository of the National Archives," 

 compiled by Imperial Command, a.d. 

 1012. — Sin- Tam/shoo, " A New His- 

 tory of the Tang Dj-nasty," A.D. 618 

 — 906, by Gow-Yaxg-sew and Sing- 

 KE, A.D. 1060. — Tung-che, "National 

 Annals," by Chi^tg-Tseaof, a.d. 

 1150. — Wdn-heen tuny-kaou, "Anti- 

 quarian Researches," by MA-TwAJf- 

 LIN, A.D. 1319. Of this remarkable 

 work there is an admirable analysis 

 by Ivlaproth in the Asiatic Journal for 

 1832, vol. XXXV. p. 110, and one still 

 more complete in the Journal Asia- 

 tique, vol. xxi. p. 3. The portion 

 relating to Ceylon has been trans- 

 lated into French by M. Pauthier 

 in the Journal Asiatique for April, 

 1836, and again by M. Stanislas 

 Jidien in the same Journal for July, 

 1836, t. xxix. p. 36. — Yuh-hae, 

 "The Ocean of Gems," by Wang- 

 tan g-list, A.D. 1338. — Taou-e che- 

 hto, " A General Accoimt of Island 

 Foreigners," by Wang-Ta-youen, 

 A.D. 1350. — Tsih-ke, "Miscellaneous 

 Record ; " wi-itten at tlie end of the 

 Yuen dynasty, about the close of the 



fourteenth century. — ro-wHh yaou- 

 fort, " Philosophical Examiner ;" wi'it- 

 ten dming the Ming djTiasty, about 

 the beginning of the fifteenth centuiy. 

 — Se-yih-ke foo-choo, " A Description 

 of Western Countries," a.d. 1450. 

 This is the important work of which 

 M. Stanislas Julien has recently pub- 

 lished the first volume of his French 

 translation, 3Iemoires des Contrees 

 Occidentales, Paris, 1857 ; and of 

 which he has been so obliging as to 

 send me those sheets of the second 

 volume, now preparing for the press, 

 which contain the notices of Ceylon 

 by HiouEN-TnsANG. They, how- 

 ever, add very little to the infor- 

 mation already given in the Life and 

 Travels of Iliouen-TIisany. — TFoo- 

 hed-pi'en, " Records of the Ming Dy- 

 nasty," hj CmNG-IlEAOTJ, A.D. 1522. 

 — Suh-wan-heen tuny-kaou, " Supple- 

 ment to the Antiquarian Reseai'ches," 

 by Wang-Ke, A.D. 1003. — Suh-Hung 

 keen-luh, " Supplement to the History 

 of the Middle Ages," by Shaoij- 

 Ytjex-ping, a.d. nOQ.—Miny-she, 

 " Ilistorv of the Ming DjTiasty," a.d. 

 1638—1643, by Chang-Tixg-tuh, 

 A.D. 1739. — Ta-tsiny ylh-tuny, " A 

 Topographical Account of the Man- 

 choo Dvnasty," of which there is a 

 copy in the British Museum. 



^ Taou-e che-leo, quoted in the 

 Hae-kwo-too che, Foreig-n Geography, 

 b. xviii. p. 15. 



^ Leany-shoo, b. liv. p. 10 ; Xan- 

 she, b. Ixxiii. p. 13 ; Tuny-teen, b. 

 clxxxviii. p. 17. 



^ The Chinese books repeat the 

 popidar belief that the hollow of tlio 

 sacred footstep contains water " which 



