SHORT HISTORY OF CEYLON. 163 



going a great extension. The new breakwater, already 

 far advanced in construction, is to be supplemented by 

 jetties and warehouses, calculated to make Colombo the 

 great calling-port of the East. Shipping seemed to 

 be active on my ari-ival, and it was difficult to find a 

 landing-place, where the custom-house claims the I'ight 

 of inspecting every new arrival's luggage. 



Ceylon, like India, has a history of which we know 

 very little as far as i-egards its earliest phases, which 

 are enveloped in mythological legendry. According to 

 the Ramayana, the Hindu epic, part of the island was 

 conquered from Kawana, the demon-king of Ceylon, by 

 the hero Rama, the sixth incarnation of Vishnu, who 

 had sent his monkey-general, Hunnooman, to recover 

 Seeta, his wife. This Hunnooman in his expedition 

 was said to have laid down Adam's bridge across the 

 Paumben strait, consisting of rocks and boulders, from 

 the mainland to the island, which near the former now 

 admits of a passage for small crafts up to 300 tons. 

 There has been a project, by the way, for some years 

 past, to widen the same foi- l)ig steamers. 



The first historical fact, however, we learn from the 

 Mahawansa, an epic written in the Pali, or sacred 

 dialect, namely, the submission of Ceylon, in B.C. 543, 

 to Hyara, an Indian prince, who introduced the Hindu 

 religion, and a mild form of caste. After that period 



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