amongst the Singhalese. 269 



which we owe mainly to this publication of Mr Tumour. Whatever 

 had been before suggested on the probable origin of that name, so little 

 now known except in these Budhistic Books, as one of the proper names 

 of the great island of Lanca or Singhala-divipa, was in the highest degree 

 forced and improbable (ex. gr. the Hind Tapuvi-Raban ; or the Island 

 of Ravana.")— p. 830. 



Now Dr. Mill was quite right in thinking it was more 

 probable that this name was derived from tdmra-varna 

 (which is tamba-vanna in Pali) "copper colour" than from 

 iamba panniyo, " copper palmed " given in Mr. Tumour's 

 version of the Mahawansa. For, it appears that Mr. Tumour 

 has fallen into this error by taking the text to be Tamba 

 pannattha pannlyo. And although he has corrected the text 

 in his Errata, by giving as the correct word Tambavanattha 

 pcmayo, he has, nevertheless, failed to rectify the error in the 

 Translation, — an omission by which he has permitted the 

 passage to remain thus : — 



"At the spot where the seven -hundred men, with the King at their 

 head, exhausted by (sea sickness, and faint from weakness) had landed 

 out of the vessel, supporting themselves on the palms of their hands 

 pressed on the ground, they sat themselves down. Hence, to them the 

 name of Tambapanniyo ( copper -palmed, from the colour of the soil.) 

 From this circumstance that wilderness obtained the name of Tamba- 

 panni. From the same cause also this renowned land became cele- 

 brated (under that name.) — Mahawansa, p. 50. 



With all the deference due to the memory of so dis- 

 tinguished an Orientalist as Mr. Tumour, I venture to offer 

 the following translation: 



" The seven-hundred men, with the king at their head, 

 who had come from thence, landed out of the vessel — ex- 

 hausted and faint from weakness; and sat themselves down 

 by pressing the palms of their hands on the ground. Where- 

 by their palms became (tamba-vanna,) copper coloured From 

 this circumstance that wilderness obtained the name of Tarn- 

 bapanna ; and from the same cause also this renowned land 

 became designated by that name." 



1858] 2 n 



