1847.] Periplus of the Erythrean Sea, fyc. 3 



carried on in the coasting vessels of the country : bat that voyages from 

 the latter coast to the Ganges were made in ships, that sailed across 

 the Bay of Bengal. These were native or country-built vessels, and 

 like the ships described by Fa Hian about the end of the 4th century, 

 as sailing from the Ganges to Ceylon and thence to China, they appear 

 to have been manned by Hindoos.* That the Hindoos were a maritime 

 people in ancient times, is now generally admitted. In evidence of this 

 fact, may be mentioned the allusion to marine insurance in the Institutes 

 of Menu, the circumstance of Hindoos having formerly resided in Java, 

 and the notice "in poems, tales, and plays dating from the 1st century 

 before to the 12th century after our era, of adventures at sea in which 

 Indian sailors and ships alone are concerned. "f Mention is made in 

 the Brihatkatha of a " king of Bengal who proceeded on an expedition 

 to the coast, and of Srimanta, Chand, and Dhanapati, celebrated native 

 merchants, who made periodical voyages in a fleet to Ceylon.*' J The 

 historians of Ceylon relate that a king named Wijeya, who held the 

 sovereignty of their island for a period of thirty-eight years commenc- 

 ing B. C. 543, was a native of Bengal, and that he had been exiled by 

 his father Singababu, king of the latter country, who, it is said, sent 

 him away with seven hundred followers to seek his fortune on the sea. § 

 It may be inferred from these circumstances, which so directly prove 

 the early maritime communication between Bengal and Ceylon, that the 

 transportation of merchandize from the Ganges to the marts of South- 

 ern India was effected by the natives of the country, that the Egyptian 

 traders seldom extended their navigation beyond Cape Comorin, and that 

 the commercial intercourse that existed between them and the natives of 

 Bengal centred in the ports of Southern India. Arrian appears to have 

 derived his information regarding the navigation of the Bay of Bengal 

 from native traders whom he met in some of these ports, and to their 

 inaccuracy in geographical details, and love of the marvellous, may be 

 ascribed the errors and fabulous statements which occur in his descrip- 

 tion of the countries, and tribes of Eastern India. 



The concluding part of Arrian' s journal, which relates to countries 



* Professor Wilson's Account of the Foe Kue Ki, in Jour. Royal As. Soc. Vol. 5, 

 p. 108 t Ibid. 



X Preface to Bengali Dictionary by Babu Ram Comul Sen. 

 § Knighton's History of Ceylon, p. 11, 51. 



B 2 



