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



611 



The ideas of tlie Chinese regarding the mythical 

 period of Singhalese history, and the first peopling of 

 the island, are embodied in a very few sentences which 

 are repeated throughout the series of authors, and with 

 wliich we are made familiar in the folloA\ang passage 

 from Fa Hl\n : — " Sze-tseu-kwo, the kingdom of 

 hons ^, was inhabited originaUy not by men but by de- 

 mons and dragons.^ Merchants were attracted to the 

 island, by the prospect of trade ; but tlie demons re- 

 mamed unseen, merely exposing the precious articles 

 wliich they wished to barter : Avitli a price marked for 

 each, at Avhich the foreign traders were at hberty to 

 take tliem, depositing the equivalents indicated in ex- 

 change. From the resort of these dealers, the inhabi- 

 tants of other countries, hearing of the attractions of 

 the island, resorted to it in large nmnbers, and thus 

 eventually a great kingdom was formed." ^ 



The Chinese were aware of two separate races, one 

 occupying the northern and the other the southern ex- 

 tremity of the island, and were struck with the resem- 

 blance of the Tamils to the Hoo, a people of Central 

 Asia, and of the Singhalese to the Leaou, a mountain 

 tribe of Western China.* The latter they describe as 

 ha\dng "large ears, long eyes, purple faces, black 

 bodies, moist and strong hands and feet, and living to 

 one hundiTd years and upwards.^ Theu* hau' was worn 

 long and flowing, not only by the women but by the 

 men." In these details there are particulars that 



^ Wan-li£eniung-kaou,h, cccxxxviii. 

 p. 24. 



2 The Yakkhos and Nagas (" devils" 

 and " serpents ") of the 3Iahawanso. 



^ Foe-Kone Ki, ch. xxxviii. p. 

 333. Transl. Eejiusat. This ac- 

 count of Ceylon is repeated almost 

 verbatim in the Tung-teen, and in nu- 

 merous other Chinese works, with the 

 addition that the newly-fomied king- 

 dom of Sinhala, " Sze-tseu-kw5," 

 took its name fi-om the " skill of the 

 natives in trainins; li«.ins." — B. cxciii. 



pp. 8, 9 ; Tae-imif/, b. dccxciii. p. 9 ; 

 Sin-Tanff-shoo, h. cxlvi. part ii. p. 

 10. A veiy accurate translation of 

 the passage as it is given by Ma- 

 TorAif-LiiV is published by M. 

 Stanislas Julien in the Jouni. Asiat. 

 for July, 18.36, tom. xxix. p. 36. 



* Too-Hiouoi, quoted in the Tuwj- 

 teen, b. cxciii. p. 8. 



^ Taou-e che-leo, quoted in the 

 Hae-kwo-too che, or " Foreign Geo- 

 graphy," b. xviii. p. 15. 



