CHAP. TIL] CEYLON AS KNOWN TO THE CHINESE. 625 



humbly and periodically acknowledged ; tribute was 

 punctually paicl to the emperor, and on two occasions, 

 in 1416 A.D., and 1421, the kings of Ceylon were 

 the bearers of it in person. 1 In 1430, at a period of 

 intestine commotion, " Ching-Ho issued a proclamation 

 for the pacification of Ceylon," and, at a somewhat 

 later period, edicts were promulgated by the Emperor 

 of China for the government of the island. 2 In 1459 

 A.D., however, the series of humiliations appears to 

 have come abruptly to a close ; for, " in that year," says 

 the Ming-she, "the King of Ceylon for the last time 

 sent an envoy with tribute, and after that none ever 

 came again." 



On their arrival in Ceylon early in the sixteenth 

 century 3 , the Portuguese found many evidences still 

 existing of the intercourse and influence of the Chinese. 

 They learned that at a former period they had esta- 

 blished themselves in the south of the island ; and both 

 De Barros and De Couto ventured to state that the 

 Singhalese were so called from the inter-marriage of 

 the Chinese with the Gallas or Chalias, the caste who 

 in great numbers still inhabit the country to the north 

 of Point de Galle. 4 But the conjecture is erroneous, the 

 derivation of Singhala is clearly traced to the Sanskrit 



bahu, believing bis professions (be- 

 cause it bad been customary in the 

 time of King Prakrama-babu for 

 foreign countries to pay tribute to 

 Ceylon), acted incautiously, and be 

 was treacherously taken prisoner by 



c. vi. vol. ii. part i. p. 51. PTKCHAS 

 says : " The Singhalese language is 

 thought to have been left there by 

 the Chinois, some time Lord of 

 Zeilan. " Pilgrimage, c. xviii. 

 p. 552. The adventures of Ching- 



tke foreign king. His four brothers ' Ho, in his embassy to the nations of 

 were killed, and with them fell many the Southern Ocean, have been made 



people, and the king himself was car- 

 ried captive to China." DE COUTO, 

 in his continuation of DE BARROS, 

 has introduced the story of the cap- 

 ture of the king by the Chinese ; but 

 be has confounded the dates, mysti- 

 fied the facts, and altered the name 

 of the new sovereign to Pandar, 

 which is probably only a corruption 

 of the Singhalese "Haiida, "a prince." 

 DE COUTO, Asia, fyc., dec. v. lib. i. 



the ground-work of a novel, the 

 80-yimff-ke, which contains an en- 

 larged account of his exploits in 

 Ceylon ; but fact is so overlaid with 

 fiction that the passages are not worth 

 extracting. 



1 Ming-ste, b. vii. pp. 4, 8. 



2 Ibid., b. cccxxvii. p. 7. 



3 A.I). 1505. 



4 " Serem os Chijis senhores da 

 costa Choromandel, parte do Malabar 



