CHAP. II.J 



AGRICULTURE. 



439 



mistook it for blood, and spread the false cry that the 

 king had been slain. 1 



Intoxicating liquors are of sufficient antiquity to be 

 denounced in the moral system of Buddhism. The use 

 of toddy and drinks obtained from the fermentation of 

 " bread and flour " is condemned in the laity, and 

 strictly prohibited to the priesthood 2 ; but the Arabian 

 geographers mention that in the twelfth century, wine, 

 in defiance of the prohibition, was imported from Persia, 

 and drunk by the Singhalese after being flavoured with 

 cardamoms. 3 



1 Rajavali, p. 221. 



2 HARDY'S Buddhism, &c. t ch. x. 

 p. 474. 



3 EDEISI, Geographic, &c v Trad. 

 JATJBERT, torn. i. p. 73. 



F 4 



