Chap. IV.] CEYLOX AS KXOWN TO VENETIANS. 



637 



and the multitude of wild animals, lions (leopards?), 

 bears, and elephants. " In it he saw the mountain on 

 which Adam for the space of 500 years mourned the 

 death of Abel, and on which his tears and those of Eve 

 formed, as men beheved, a fountain ; " but this Odoric 

 discovered to be a delusion, as he saw the spring gush- 

 ing from the earth, and its waters " flowing over jewels, 

 but abounding with leeches and blood-suckers." The 

 natives were permitted by the king to collect the gems ; 

 and in doing so they smear their bodies with the juice 

 of lemons to protect them from the leeches. The wild 

 creatures, they said, however dangerous to the inhabi- 

 tants of the island, were harmless to strangers. In 

 that island Odoric saw " birds with two heads," which 

 possibly implies that he saw the hornbill \ whose huge 

 and double casque may explain the expression. 



In the succeeding century^ the most authentic ac- 

 count of Ceylon is given by NicoLO di Conti, another 

 Venetian, who, though of noble family, had settled as a 



* BiKeros Pica. See ante, Part ii. 

 eh. ii. p. 167. 



^ Among the waiters on India in 

 the 14th century, a.d. 1323, was the 

 Dominican missionary Jourdain 

 Catalan!, or " Jordan de Severac," 

 regarding whose title of Bishoj) of 

 Colombo, " Episcopus Cohimbensis," 

 it is somewhat uncertain wliether his 

 .see was in Ceylon, or at Coulam 

 (Quilon), on the Malabar coast. The 

 probability in favoiu* of the latter is 

 sustained by the fact of the very 

 limited accomats of the island con- 

 tained in his Mirabilia, a work in 

 which he has recorded his observa- 

 tions on the Dekkan. Cinnamon he 

 describes as a production of Malabar, 

 and Ceylon he extols only for its 

 gems, pre-eminent among which 

 were two rubies, one worn by the 

 iing, suspended round his neck, and 

 the other which, when grasped in the 

 hand, could not be covered by the 

 fingers, " Non credo niundum habere 

 miiversimi tales duo lapides, nee tauti 



pretii." The MS. of Fra. Joeda- 

 NUs's 3IirabiJia has been printed in 

 the Recueil des Voyages of the So- 

 ciety Geogi". of Paris, vol. i. p. 49. 

 Giovanni de Maeignola, a Floren- 

 tine and Legate of Clement YL, 

 landed in Ceylon in 1.349 a.d., at 

 which time the legitimate king was 

 driven away and the supreme power 

 left in the hands of a eunuch whom 

 he calls Coja-Jvan, " pessimus Sara- 

 ceuus." The legate's attention was 

 chiefly directed to " the moimtain 

 opposite Paradise." — Dobner, 3Io- 

 num. Ilistor. Boemice. Pragae, 1704- 

 85. 



John of IIesse in his "Itineraiy" 

 (in which occurs the date a.d. 1398) 

 says, " Adsunt et in quadam insula 

 nomine Taprobanes viri crudelissimi 

 et moribus asperi : pennag-nas habeut 

 aures, et illas plmimis gemmis oruaro 

 dicimtiu'. Hi carnal hunianas pro 

 SKinmis deliciis comedunt."' — JoHAN- 

 Nis DE Hesse, Presb)i:eri Itinerarinm, 

 etc. 



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