Ptolemy ['who died in 133 A.D.) adds further interesting references, mentioning 

 in his description of the provinces, towns, and rivers of the East Coast — 



" Country of the Karcoi ; in the Kolkkic gulf, where there is the pearl fishery} 

 " Sosikourai and Kolkhoi, an emporium at the mouth of the river Solon." 



So unchanging are names and peoples in this district that at the present day tlie 

 majority of these names can he readily recognised — in itself also a tribute to the accuracy 

 of the two Graeco-Egyptian geographers of lbOO years a<jo. Koinar is obviously 

 Kumari anglicised into Comorin : the Karcoi are the caste of Karaiyar or coast pcopk — 

 fishermen and boatmen — of whom the Parathavar or Para was are a branch or section, 

 described in the Tamil poem " Maturaik-kanchi" (LL. 110 — 111) * as men who dived 

 for pearls or for conch shells and knew the charm to keep off sharks from that part of 

 the sea where they dived. 



The town of Sosikourai has, I notice, not been identified by any writers with any 

 now-existing place name, but I have little doubt it represents Tuticorin — the present 

 principal town on the coast. The Tamil S is commonly corrupted into Ch, as Sippi 

 into Chippi, and then Chochikourai would readily pass into Totikourai and Tutieourai 

 from which Tuticorin, the present rendering of the nume of this town, is readily 

 derivable. 



Of Kolkhi, identified by the Groeco-Egyptian writers as the head- quarters of the 

 pearl fishery, no name trace remains, even in that) of a decadent village. The locali- 

 sation is however rendered easy by reference to the Tamil poems of the period in 

 question. In them is frequent mention of the great city of Korkai. Thus the 

 " Maturaik-kauchi " describes it as the chief town in the country of the Parathavar 

 and the seat of the pearl fishery, with a population consisting chiefly of pearl-divers 

 and chank- cutters. The great epic " Chilappatikaram " (XXVII. 127) further records 

 that on account of the importance of the revenue derived from the pearl fishery, 

 Korkai was a sub-capital of the Pandyan Kingdom, and the usual residence of the 

 heir-apparent. In its prime it boasted great magnificence, adorned with temples and 

 palaces befitting its wealth and importance. It was situated at the mouth of the 

 river Tambraparni f a river draining the present district of Tinnevelly and carrying 

 down to the sea immense quantities of sand. 



The harbour of Korkai gradually silted up, and deltaic accumulation eventually 

 cut off ready access to the sea. In consequence the old city gradually decayed and the 

 population drifted to the new mouth of the river where a daughter town sprang into 

 being at the expense of the parent. Exactly when this occurred I cannot make out. 

 Mediaeval travellers make no mention of Korkai or Kolkhi : the head-quarters of the 

 Indian Pearl fishery still remained located at the mouth of the Tambraparni, but its 

 name was altered to Chayl, Cail, or Kayl, wherein we recognize the Kayal of to-day. 



Marco Polo in the thirteenth century speaks of Cail as a great and noble city ; 

 Ludovico de Vathema mentions that he saw pearls fished for in the sea near the town 

 of Chayl in about A.D. 1500, while Barbosa, who travelled about the same time, sajs 

 that the people of Chayl are jewellers who trade in pearls. 



To-day Kayal is a miserable village some miles inland and situated four or five 

 miles northward of Pinnacoil, a Parawa town on an island in the present embouchure 

 of the Tambraparni. The old name still clings, and the ruined remains of what must 

 have been the great buildings of a noble city are within gunshot — the old Kayal and 

 possibly the Korkhi of classic geographers and the Korkai of the ancient Tamil epics. 



Kanakasabhai in his " Tamils of 1800 years ago "J appears to think Kayal and 

 Korkai were separate cities, saying, "The site of this town (Korkai) which stood on 



* Probably written about the same time as the " Periplus ". 



t This name Tambraparni in its Romano-Greek form of Taprobane was also the accepted cognomen of the island of 

 Ceylon among the Romans of the empire. Variations in the manner of spelling are many — Tambrapurni, Tamraparni 

 Tambiapanni, Vamrapanni and others. 



Much ingenuity has been displayed (and wasted) in seeking plausible derivations. AlHhose quoted in Tennent's 

 " Ceylon " seem to be purely fanciful ; I do not think we need go beyond the terms Tambiram, copper, and Varnam, or 

 Farnam, colour, words in common u6e among Tamils, in seeking for the meaning of the name. 



No feature strikes the stranger on ariival in Colombo more forcibly than the copper-red hue of the roads and soil : 

 " Copper-coloured Isle " is a most appropriate descriptive term to apply to Ceylon and equally so is the " Copper-coloured 

 water " to the Tinnevelly river in question, when in flood it becomes turbid with the red mud it carries seawards. 

 % Madias, 1904. 



