No. 24. — 1881.] ANCIENT KALAH, ETC. 59 



the Maha-oya, which through all tradition has been and still 

 is, the * pepper country'; or, in still conciser terms, between 

 Kalah and Ruhuna is the Maya-rata, 



Many other arguments might here be adduced, and some 

 will be alluded to further on, but I think it is even already 

 sufficiently shown that Galle was not the ancient centre of 

 Kalah, the Tarshish of Solomon's fleets, and the rendezvous of 

 Arabs, Persians, Indians, Syrians and Chinese. 



We will now proceed to consider a number of facts, which, 

 when aggregated, render it probable, or even certain, that the 

 district alluded to on the N.W. coast was the great emporium 

 of the Eastern trade — the Kalah kingdom. In A.D. 50, when 

 Claudius was Emperor at Rome, a ship sent to collect the 

 revenues of Arabia was caught by the winds and borne to 

 Hippuros, the bold point still known as Kutiraimalat or f Horse 

 Hill,' and which has from the dimmest dawn of tradition been, 

 what it still is, the landmark of sailors, and a sacred spot at 

 which they to this day make suitable offerings to appease 

 winds and waters. 



Here the mariners were hospitably received, and after a 

 short stay returned to Rome with an embassy from the King 

 of that district, which, as Pliny tells us, consisted of four per- 

 sons, the highest bearing the name of Rachia. 



CasieChetty (Jour. A.S., Ceylon, 1848, p. 78.) has proved that 

 Rachia is a corruption of A'rackchiya, and not as Sir E. Tennent 

 fancied, a form of Raja, since that title was never used for 

 persons of the rank selected for such missions. 



Now in this very remarkable embassy to Rome from a point 

 of N.W. Ceylon , we have the most extraordinary confirmation 

 of my views regarding the site of the ancient trade. 



For though Pliny gives us a full account and minute descrip- 

 tion of the Ambassadors, and the details they gave of their 

 country, yet he never even gives a hint that Hippuros was an 

 out of the way and unknown port, but on the contrary we 



