CIIAP. II.] INDIAN, ARABIAN, PERSIAN AUTHORITIES. 



595 



The chain of evidence is rendered complete by a 

 passage in PLINY, which, although somewhat obscure 

 (facts relating to the Seres being confounded with 

 statements regarding Ceylon), serves nevertheless to 

 show that the custom in question was then well known 

 to the Singhalese ambassadors sent to the Emperor 

 Claudius, and was also familiar to the Greek traders 

 resorting to the island. The envoys stated, at Eome, 

 that the habit of the people of their country was, on 

 the arrival of traders, to go to " the further side of some 

 river where wares and commodities are laid down by 

 the strangers, and if the natives list to make exchange, 

 they have them taken away, and leave other mer- 

 chandise in lieu thereof, to content the foreign mer- 

 chant." x 



tory of every art and science from 

 the commencement of the empire to 

 the era of the author MA-TOTJAN-LIN, 

 who wrote in the thirteenth century. 

 M. Stanislas Julien has published in 

 the Journal Adatique for July 1836 

 a translation of that portion of this 

 great work which has relation to 

 Ceylon. It is there stated of the 

 aborigines that when " les marchands 

 des autres royaumes y venaient com- 

 mercer, Us ne laissaient pas voir leurs 

 corps, et montraient au moyen de 

 pierres pre"cieuses le prix que pou- 

 vaient valoir les merchandises. Les 

 marchands venaient et en prenaient 

 une quantite equivalente a leurs rnar- 

 chandises." Jourti. Asiat. t. xxviii. 

 p. 402; xxiv. p. 41. I have extracts 

 from seven other Chinese works, 

 written between the seventh and 

 the twelfth centuries, in all of which 

 there occurs the same account of 

 Ceylon, that it was formerly sup- 

 posed to be inhabited by dragons 

 and demons, and that when " mer- 

 chants from all nations come to trade 

 with them, they are invisible, but 

 leave their precious wares spread out 

 with an indication of the value set on 

 them, and the Chinese take them at 

 the prices stipulated." Leany-slioo, 

 "History of the Leang Dynasty," 

 A.D. 630, b. liv. p. 13. Ndn-sht, 



" History of the Southern Empire," 

 A.D. 650, p. xxxviii. p. 14. Jttnr/- 

 teen, " Cyclopedia of History," A.'D. 

 740, b. cxciii. p. 8. The Toe-piny, 

 a " Digest of History," compiled by 

 Imperial command, A.D. 983, b. 

 dccxciii. p. 9. Tsih-foo-yuen-kivei, 

 the " Great Depositary of the Na- 

 tional Archives," A.D. 1012, b. cccclvi. 

 p. 21. Sin-Jany-shoo, "New His- 

 tory of the Tang'Dynasty," A.D. 1060, 

 b. cxlvi. partii. p. 10. Wan-heen-tiiny- 

 Kwan, " Antiquarian Researches," 

 A.D. 1319, b. cccxxxviii. p. 24. 



1 PLINY, Nat. Hist., lib. vi. ch. 

 xxiv. Transl. Philemon Holland, 

 p. 130. This passage has been some- 

 times supposed to refer to the Serse, 

 but a reference to the text will con- 

 firm the opinion of MAKTIANUS and 

 SOLINTJS, that Pliny applies it to the 

 Singhalese j and that the allusion to 

 red hair and grey^ eyes, " rutilis 

 comis" and"cferuleisoculis" applies 

 to some northern tribes whom the 

 Singhalese had seen in their over- 

 land journeys to China. " Later 

 travellers," says COOLEY, " have like- 

 wise had glimpses, on the frontiers 

 of India, of these German features ; 

 but nothing is yet known with cer- 

 tainty of the tribe to which they 

 properly belong." Hist. Inland and 

 Maritime Discovery, vol. i. p. 71. 



