614 



MEDIAEVAL HISTOKY. 



[PART V. 



dynasty, A.D. 317 419 1 ; and one remarkable island 

 still retains a name which is commemorative of their 

 presence. Salang, to the north of Penang, lay in the 

 direct course of the Chinese junks on their way to and 

 from Ceylon, through the Straits of Malacca, and, in 

 addition to its harbour, was attractive from its valuable 

 mines of tin. Here the Chinese fleets called on both 

 voyages ; and the fact of their resort is indicated by 

 the popular name " Ajung-Selan," or " Junk-Ceylon ; " 

 by which the place is still known, Ajung, in the language 

 of the Malays, being the term for " large shipping," and 

 Selan, their name for Ceylon. 2 



The port in Ceylon which the Chinese vessels made 

 their rendezvous, was Lo-le (Galle), " where, " it is said, 

 " ships anchor, and people land." 3 



Besides rice, the vegetable productions of the island 

 enumerated by the various Chinese authorities were 

 aloes-wood, sandal-wood 4 , and ebony ; camphor 5 , areca- 

 nuts, beans, sesamum, coco-nuts (and arrack distilled 

 from the coco-nut palm) pepper, sugar-cane, myrrh, 

 frankincense, oil and drugs. 6 An .odoriferous extract, 

 called by the Chinese Shoo-heang, is likewise particular- 

 ised, but it is not possible now to identify it. 



Elephants and ivory were in request; and the only 

 manufactures alluded to for export were woven cotton 7 , 



1 Tung-teen, A.D. 740. b. clxxxviii. 

 p. 17. 



2 Singapore Chronicle, 183G. 



3 WANG-KE, Suh-wan-lieen tung- 

 kaou, b. ccxxxvi. p. 19. 



* The mention of sandal-wood is 

 suggestive. It does not, so far as I 

 could ever learn, exist in Ceylon ; yet 

 it is mentioned by the designation of 

 " almug-wood," among the treasures 

 which the navies of Phoenicia brought 

 back amongst the imports from Tar- 

 shish and Ophir (1 Kings, x. 2.) ; and 

 Abou-zeyd enumerates it amongst the 

 exports of Ceylon in the ninth cen- 

 tury (see ante, p. 589). It figures, 

 too, amongst the exports of the island, 



in the records of the Chinese. Can it 

 be that, like the calamander, or Coro- 

 mandel-wood, which is rapidly ap- 

 proaching extinction, sandal-wood 

 was extirpated from the island by 

 injudicious cutting, unaccompanied 

 by any precautions for the reproduc- 

 tion of the tree ? It appears to have 

 been found in Ceylon about the year 

 1830, or later, when Moon drew up 

 his catalogue of Ceylon plants. 



5 Nan-she, b. Ixxviii. p. 13. 



6 Suh-IIung keen-luh, b. xlii. p. 52. 



7 Tsih-foo yaen-kwei, A.D. 1012, 

 b. dcccclxxi. p. 15. At a later 

 period "Western cloth" is mention- 

 ed among the exports of Ceylon, 



