BOOK VI. XXIV. 85-87 



all that he heard was remarkably struck with 

 admiration for Roman honesty, on the ground that 

 among the money found on the captive the denarii 

 were all equal in weight, although the various 

 figures on them showed that they had been coined 

 by several emperors. This strongly attracted his 

 friendship, and he sent four envoys, the cliief of 

 whom was Rachias." From them we learnt the 

 following facts about Ceylon : it contains 500 towns, 

 and a harbour facing south, adjacent to the town of 

 Palaesimundus, which is the most famous of all the 

 places in the island and a royal residence, with 

 a population of 200,000. Inland (we were told) 

 there is a marsh named Megisba measuring 375 

 miles round and containing islands that only produce 

 pasturage ; and out of this marsh flow two rivers, 

 Palaesimundus running through three channels 

 into the harbour near the town that bears the same 

 name as the river, and measuring over half a mile 

 in breadth at the narrowest point and nearly two 

 miles at the widest, and the other, named Cydara, 

 flowing north in the direction of India. The nearest 

 cape in India (according to our informants) is the one 

 called Cape Comorin, at a distancc of four days' sail, 

 passing in the middle of the voyage the Island of 

 the Sun ; and the sea there is of a deep green colour, 

 and also has thickets of trees growing in it,* the tops 

 of which are brushed by the rudders of passing 

 vessels. The envoys marvelled at the new aspect 

 of the heavens visible in our country, with the 

 Great and Little Bear and the Pleiads, and they told 

 us that in their own country even the moon only 

 appears above the horizon from the 8th to the 16th 

 day of the month, and that Canopus, a large and 



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