CHAP, in.] CONQUEST OF CETLOX BY WIJAYO. 339 



The continual recurrence of records of similar con- B .c. 

 structions amongst the civil exploits of nearly every 307. 

 succeeding sovereign, together with the prodigious 

 number formed, alike attest the unimproved condition 

 of Ceylon, prior to the arrival of the Bengal invaders, 

 and the indolence or ignorance of the original inhabitants, 

 as contrasted with the energy and skill of their first 

 conquerors. 



Upwards of two hundred years were spent in initiatory B .c. 

 measures for the organisation of the new state. 307 - 

 Colonists from the continent of India were encouraged 

 by facilities held out to settlers, and carriage roads 

 were formed in the vicinity of the towns. 1 Village 

 communities were duly organised, gardens were planted, 

 flowers and fruit-bearing trees introduced 2 , and the pro- 

 duction of food secured by the construction of canals 3 , 

 and other public works for irrigation. Moreover, the 

 kings and petty princes attested the interest which they 

 felt in the promotion of agriculture, by giving personal 

 attention to the formation of tanks and to the labours 

 of cultivation. 4 



Meantime, the effects of Gotama Buddha's early visits 

 had been obliterated, and the sacred trees which he 

 planted were dead ; and although the bulk of the settlers 

 had come from countries where Buddhism was the domi- 

 nant faith, no measures appear to have been taken by the 

 Bengal immigrants to revive or extend it throughout 

 Ceylon. Wijayo was, in all probability, a Brahman, but 



