CHAP. II.] INDIAN, AEABIAN, PERSIAN AUTHORITIES. 593 



princes, fostered the renown of the Ptolemies, rendered 

 the wealth and the precious products of Arabia a gor- 

 geous mystery 1 , freighted the Tigris with " barbaric 

 pearl and gold," and identified the merchants of Bagdad 

 and the mariners of Bassora with associations of ad- 

 venture and romance. Yet, strange to say, the native 

 Singhalese appear to have taken no part in this exciting 

 and enriching commerce ; their name is never mentioned 

 in connection with the immigrant races attracted by it to 

 their shores, and the only allusions of travellers to the 

 indigenous inhabitants of the island are in connection 

 with a custom so remarkable and so peculiar as at once 

 to identify the tribes to whom it is ascribed with the 

 remnant of the aboriginal race of Veddahs, whose des- 

 cendants still haunt the forests in the east of Ceylon. 



Such is the aversion of this untamed race to any 

 intercourse with civilised life, that when in want of the 

 rude implements essential to then: savage economy, 

 they repair by night to the nearest village on the 

 confines of their hunting-fields. They indicate by well- 

 understood signs and models the number and form of 

 the articles required, whether arrow-heads, ' hatchets, 

 or cloths, and depositing an equivalent portion of dried 

 deer's flesh' or honey near the door of the dealer, and 

 retire unseen to the jungles, returning by stealth within 

 a reasonable time, to carry away the manufactured 

 articles, which they find placed at the same spot in 

 exchange. 



This singular custom has been described without 

 variation by numerous writers on Ceylon, both in recent 

 and remote times. To trace it backwards, it is narrated 

 nearly as I have stated it, by Eobert Knox in 1681 2 ; 

 and it is confirmed by VALENTYN, the Dutch historian of 

 Ceylon 3 ; as well as by EIBEYRO, the Portuguese, who 

 wrote somewhat earlier. 4 ALBTROUNI, the geographer, 



1 " . . . . intactis opulentior 

 Thesauris Arabum, et divitis 



Indise." HORACE. 



2 KNOX, Historical Relation, fyc. 



part iii. ch. i. p. 62. 



3 VALENTTN, Oud en Nieuw Oost- 

 Indien, ch. iii. p. 49. 



Lorsqu'ila ont besom de haches 



4 . 



