618 



MEDIAEVAL HISTORY. 



[P. 



V. 



the Arabs, who, with the exception of the pilgrimage 

 made with difficulty to Adam's Peak, appear to have 

 known only the sea-coast and the mercantile communi- 

 ties established there, exhibit a marked difference when 

 compared with those of the Chinese ; as the latter, in ad- 

 dition to their trading operations in the south of the 

 island, made their way into the interior, and penetrated 

 to the cities in the northern districts. The explanation is to 

 be found in the original identity of the national worship, 

 attracting as it did the people of China to the sacred 

 island, which was once the great metropolis of their 

 common faith, and to the sympathy and hospitality with 

 which the Singhalese welcomed the frequent visits of 

 their distant co-religionists. 



This interchange of courtesies was eagerly encouraged 

 by the sovereigns of the two countries. The emperors 

 of China were accustomed to send ambassadors, both 

 laymen and theologians, to obtain images and relics of 

 Buddha, and to collect transcripts of the sacred books, 

 which contained the exposition of his doctrines : ; and 

 the kings of Ceylon despatched embassies in return, 

 authorised to reciprocate these religious sympathies and 

 do homage to the imperial majesty of China. 



The historical notices of the island by the Chinese 

 relative to the period immediately preceding the four- 

 teenth century, are meagre, and confined to a native 

 tradition that " about 400 years after the establish- 

 ment of the kingdom, the Great Dynasty fell into 

 decay, when there was but one man of wisdom and 

 virtue belonging to the royal house to whom the people 

 became attached : the monarch thereupon caused him 

 to be thrown into prison ; but the lock opened of its 

 own accord, and the king thus satisfied of his sacred 

 character did not venture to take his life, but drove 



their hair, their treatment of infants 

 and children, the fact that the women 

 as well as the men were addicted to 

 chewing hetel, and that they did not 

 sit down to meals with their hus- 



bands, hut " retired to some private 

 apartments to eat their food." 

 1 Htouen-TTtsanff, In trod. 



NISLA.S JULIEN, p. 1. 



STA- 



