CHAP. IV.l CEYLON AS KNOWN TO VENETIANS. 641 



their shoulders ; of the upper parts of their bodies ex- 

 posed, but the lower portions enveloped in silks and 

 rich cloths, secured by an embroidered girdle. He 

 describes their language as a mixture of Arabic and 

 Malabar, and states that numbers of their co-religionists 

 from the Indian coast resorted constantly to Ceylon, 

 and established themselves there as traders, attracted by 

 the delights of the climate, and the luxury and abundance 

 of the island, but above all by the unlimited freedom 

 which they enjoyed under its government. The duration 

 of life was longer in Ceylon than in any country of India. 

 With a profusion of fruits of every kind, and of ani- 

 mals fit for food, grain alone was deficient ; rice was 

 largely imported from the Coromandel coast, and sugar 

 from Bengal. 



Di Conti and Barthema had ascertained the existence 

 of cinnamon as a production of the island, but Barbosa 

 was the first European who asserted its superiority 

 qver that of all other countries. Elephants captured by 

 order of the king, were tamed, trained, and sold to the 

 princes of India, whose agents arrived annually in quest 

 of them. The pearls of Manaar and the gems of 

 Adam's Peak were the principal riches of Ceylon. The 

 cat's-eye, according to Barbosa, - was as highly valued 

 as the ruby by the dealers in India; and the rubies 

 themselves were preferred to those of Pegu on ac- 

 count of their density 1 ; but, compared with those of 

 Ava, they were inferior in colour, a defect which the 

 Moors were skilled in correcting by x the application of 

 fire. 



The residence of the king was at " Colmucho" (Co- 

 lombo), whither vessels coming for elephants, cinnamon, 



1 CESAEE DE FREDEBICI, a Vene- 

 tian merchant, whose travels in 

 India, A. i>. 1563, have been trans- 



that, " they find there some rubies, 

 but I have sold rubies well there 

 that I brought with me from Pegu." 



lated by HICKOCKE, says of Zeilan, In HaMuyt, vol. i. p. 226. 



