112 NATURAL HISTORY OE 



early period.* There can be no doubt of the remote civiliza- 

 tion of Ceylon, and the ruins of enormous cities, such as 

 Palaesimundus (Arrian), Amuragramina, Coodramalli on the 

 pearl coast, and the innumerable artificial tanks, certainly 

 prove an enormous and industrious population to have once 

 flourished on the island. 



Although Arabian legends of Ceylon have an air of the 

 greatest antiquity, it is from Hindoo traditions, both in the 

 island and on the main coast, that the mythological appropria- 

 tions of the local submersion are confounded with the M 

 or general deluge of history ; nevertheless, a separate record of 

 the scriptural event may be traced coming from a western 

 source, first distinctly announced at the pagoda of Juggeth, 

 before mentioned; and from thence passing onwards, more and 

 more distorted, till every circumstance is obliterated, in fanci- 

 ful tales, at the black pagoda of Juggernaut.* 



On the coast of the Carnatic, eastward to the Bay of Bengal, 

 where several considerable rivers incessantly pour down their 

 tributes of earthy deposit, not only no perceptible extension of 

 the low coast is discernible, but abrasion by surf, and occasional 

 great sea waves, indicate progressive depression. All the 

 streams are barred, and in deep water the currents are violent; 

 thus, in 1793, the settlement of Coringa, near the mouth of the 

 Cawvery, was overflowed by three successive seas, with most 

 of the lives, houses, and property swept away. The ruins of 

 Mahabalipuram, at no great distance from thence, better known 

 as the seven pagodas, once a great and superb city, demon- 

 strate the sinking soil, by several of the temples being either 



* This was already an ancient practice in the age of Herodotus. 

 Before his time there were some dedicated to Osiris, in Upper Egypt ; 

 one, ascribed to Hercules, was carved in rock, on the Danube ; others are 

 still found referred to Budha, in Japan and China. Paducas are common 

 in India. There is one to Moses in Sinai, to the Saviour at Jerusalem, t; 

 Abraham in Arabia, to Mohammed at Mecca, and to a variety of sain 

 in Italy, France, and even Wales. 



t Consult Nearchus, Ptolemy, Kosmos, Knox, TJpham, &c. 



