582 



MEDIAEVAL HISTORY. 



[PART V. 



over the opulent commerce of Ceylon that was after- 

 wards enjoyed by the Portuguese and Dutch in succes- 

 sion between 1505, and the expulsion of the latter by 

 the British in 1796. During this early period, there- 

 fore, we must look for the continuation of accounts 

 regarding Ceylon to the literature of the Arabs and 

 Persians, and more especially to the former, by whom 

 geography was first cultivated as a science in the eighth 

 and ninth centuries under the auspices of the Khalifs 

 Almansour and Ahnamoun. 



On turning to the Arabian treatises on geography, it 

 will be found that the Mahometan writers on these 

 subjects were for the most part grave and earnest men 

 who, though liable equally with the imaginative Greeks to 

 be imposed on by their informants, exercised somewhat 

 more caution, and were more disposed to confine their 

 writings to statements of facts derived from safe au- 

 thorities, or to matters which they had themselves seen. 

 In their hands scientific geography combined theoretic 

 precision, which had been introduced by their prede- 

 cessors, with the extended observation incident to the 

 victories and enlarged dominion of the Khalifs. Ac- 

 curate knowledge was essential for the civil govern- 

 ment of their conquests 1 ; and the pilgrimage to Mekka, 

 indispensable once at least in the life of every Maho- 

 metan 2 , rendered the followers of the new faith ac- 

 quainted with many countries in addition to their 



own/ 



Hence the records of their voyages, though present- 



1 u La science ge"ographique, 

 comme les autres sciences en gene- 

 ral, notamment 1'astronomie, com- 

 menca a se former chez les Arabes, 

 dans la derniere moitie du viii e siecle, 

 et se fixa dans la premiere moitie du 

 ix e . On fit usage des itineraires 

 traces par les chefs des arme'es con- 

 querantes et des tableaux dresses 

 par les gouverneurs de provinces ; 



en meme temps on mit a la contri- 

 bution les methodes propagees par 

 les Indiens, les Persans, et surtout 

 les Grecs, qui avaient apporte le plus 

 de precision dans leurs operations." 

 KEtN.VUD, Ltirod. Aboidfi'da, $c., 

 p. xl. 



2 KEIXATJD, Inirod. Aloulfeda, p. 

 cxxii. 



3 Ibid., vol. i. p. xl. 



