20 



joubnal, k.a.s. (ceylon). 



[Vol. VIII. 



and other goods; and the "harbour" is again mentioned 

 (204 B.C.) at p. 134. Compare also Mak., p. 49, where 

 trading vessels from North India or Burma are certainly 

 alluded to so early as 400 B.C. 



'The two great ports ,of Ceylon in the pre-Christian era 

 were Gonagama, the port of Magama in the south-east, 

 and Mahatittha (or Mantota) and its neighbourhood in the 

 north-west. While Mahatittha was the emporium of the 

 trade carried on with southern and western India and the Far 

 West, Magama was the seat of the trade with eastern India 

 and the Far East, and also, to some extent, with the Far West. 

 It was here that the Eastern and Western traders met ; and 

 thus it is that our excavations have disclosed, in what is 

 now this obscure corner of the Island, the productions of 

 the opposite sides of the globe, — the coins of Greece lying 

 beside a piece of rhinoceros horn from Northern India and 

 an article of volcanic origin perhaps brought from beyond 

 the Bay of Bengal. 



So little is known of the history of any of the early cities 

 in Ceylon, excepting a few special ones, such as Anuradha- 

 pura, Pulastipura, &c, that I am induced to string together, 

 as a contribution to a skeleton account of Magama, the few 

 references to it with which I have met, or other facts which 

 tend to prove the length of time during which the city was 

 occupied and the tank was in working order. Of course 

 this is not by any means a full list, especially in the time 

 after the 5th century. 



Circa 414 B.C. Wijaya lands at Gonagama and founds 



the city of Tambapanni (== Rohana- 

 Mahagama, the * great village of the 

 Province of Rohana'). 

 375 „ ... Arrival of Panduwasa Dewa at Gona- 

 gama, " the port for Tambapanni." 

 374 „ ... Arrival of Princess Bhaddhakacchaua 

 at Gonagama. 



Circa 370 „ ... Settlement of Prince Sudhodana Sakya 

 at Magama (= Rohana) Mah. f p. 57 ; 

 Raja., p. 178. 

 243 „ Settlement of Mahanaga at Magama. 



240 — 230 „ ... Construction of Naga Maharama. 

 Circa 226 „ ... Yattkalaka Tissa, King of Rohana, 

 225 „ ... K aka waiinatissa born. 



