CHAP. III.] CEYLON AS KNOWN TO THE CHINESE. 623 



and offerings to the shrine of the tooth, was insulted 

 and waylaid, and with difficulty effected an escape from 

 Ceylon. 1 According to the Ming-she, or History of the 

 Ming Dynasty, " the Emperor Ching-tsoo, indignant at 

 this outrage on his people ; and apprehensive lest the 

 influence of China in other countries besides Ceylon had 

 declined during the reign of his predecessors, sent Ching- 

 Ho, a soldier of distinction, with a fleet of sixty-two 

 ships and a large military escort, on an expedition to 

 visit the western kingdoms, furnished with proper cre- 

 dentials and rich presents of silk and gold. Ching-Ho 

 touched at Cochin-China, Sumatra, Java, Cambodia, Siam, 

 and other places, " proclaiming at each the Imperial edict, 

 and conferring Imperial gifts." If any of the princes re- 

 fused submission, they were subdued by force ; and the 

 expedition returned to China in A.D. 1407, accompanied 

 by envoys from the several nations, who came to pay 

 court to the Emperor. 



In the following year Ching-Ho, having been de- 

 spatched on a similar mission to Ceylon, the king, A-lee-ko- 

 nae-urh, decoyed his party into the interior, threw up 

 stockades with a view to their capture, in the hope of a 

 ransom, and ordered soldiers to the coast to plunder the 

 Chinese junks. But Ching-Ho, by a dexterous move- 

 ment, avoided the attack, and invested the capital 2 , 

 made a prisoner of the king, succeeded in conveying 

 him on board his fleet, and carried him captive to China, 

 together with his queen, his children, his officers of state, 

 and his attendants. He brought away with him spoils, 

 which were long afterwards exhibited in the Tsing- 

 hae monastery at Nankin 3 , and one of the commentaries 

 on the Si-yu-ke of Hiouen Thsang, states that amongst 

 the articles carried away, was the sacred tooth of 



1 Se-yih-ke foo-choo, b. xviii. p. 15. 

 This Chinese invasion of Ceylon has 

 been already adverted to in the sketch 

 of the domestic history of the island, 

 Vol. I. Part iv. ch. xii. p. 417. 



2 Gampola. 



3 Suh-Wan-hien tuwj-kaou, book 

 ccxxxvi. p. 12. 



