volumes. M. STASTISLAS JULIEN says | these authorities will be found ex- 

 that in another Chinese work, Picn-i- I tracted in the chapter in which I 

 tien, or T7ic History of .Foreign Na- have described the intercourse be- 

 tions, there is a compilation including tween China and Ceylon, Vol. I. P. v. 



tions, there is a compilation including 

 every passage in which Chinese au- 

 thors have written of Ceylon, which 

 occupies about forty pages 4to. Ib. 

 torn. xxix. p. 39. A number of 



tween China and Ceylon, Vol. I. P. v. 

 ch. iii. 



1 Between the years 317 and 420 

 A.D. Joum. Asiat. torn, xxviii. p. 

 401. 



A.I). 



CUAP. IX.] KIXGS OF THE " LOWER DYNASTY." 387 



first entered into political relations with China in the 

 fourth century. 1 It was about the year 400 A.D., says 

 the author, " in the reign of the Emperor Nyan-ti, that 

 ambassadors arrived from Ceylon bearing a statue of Fo 

 in jade-stone four feet two inches high, painted in five 

 colours, and of such singular beauty that one would have 

 almost doubted its being a work of human ingenuity. 

 It was placed in the Buddhist temple at Kien-Kang 

 (Xankin)." In the year 428 A.D., the King of Ceylon 

 (Maha Nama) sent envoys to offer tribute, and this 

 homage was repeated between that period and A.D. 529, 

 by three other Singhalese kings, whose names it is dif- 

 ficult to identify with their Chinese designations of Kia-oe, 

 Kia-lo, and the Ho-li-ye. 



In A.D. 670, another ambassador arrived from Ceylon, 

 and in 742, Chi-lo-mi-kia sent presents to the Emperor 

 of China consisting of pearls (perles de feu], golden flowers, 

 precious stones, ivory, and pieces of fine cotton cloth. 

 At a later period mutual intercourse became frequent 

 between the two countries, and some of the Chinese 

 travellers who resorted to Ceylon have left valuable 

 records as to the state of the island. 



It was during the reign of Maha Nama, about the year A.D. 

 413 A.D., that Ceylon was visited by Fa Hian, and the 413> 

 statements of the Mahawanso are curiously corroborated 

 by the observations recorded by this Chinese traveller. 

 He describes accurately the geniality of the climate, 

 whose uniform temperature rendered the seasons undis- 

 tinguishable. " Winter and summer," he says, " are alike 

 unknown, and perpetual verdure realises the idea of a 



