No. 24. — 1881.] ANCIENT KALAH, ETC. 75 



invasion, so that it is probable that when the rule of the 

 Maharajas of Zabedj finally collapsed and their wide domains 

 fell under different sway, the protection withdrawn from Kalah 

 was the cause of successful forays and inroads from the oppo-' 

 site coast of India or the Sinhalese capital, and that the 

 wealthy community was then broken up and its trade 

 abandoned. 



From the absence of buried hoards of any extent before or 

 after this date, there is no doubt no such previous invasion took 

 place, and never since, for probably never again did it recover 

 from the blow received. 



Within four square miles in the memory of the older people, 

 there has been found near Kalpitiya probably as much as a 

 thousand pounds' worth of hidden treasure, gold coins and 

 copper being the principal, but even a gold statue having been 

 dug up by the father of the present Tamil Mudaliyar of the 

 district. 



To conclude, I have endeavoured to show that the emporium 

 of Taprobane or Serendib, from B.C. 500 until a comparatively 

 recent time, was not Galle, but the coast from Mannar to the 

 Deduru-oya (the Northern limit of the Maya-rata) : that it was 

 separated from the capital of the Sinhalese by jealousies that 

 account for the silence of the Sinhalese chronicles : and that it 

 forms the Kalah so often referred to. 



As to which point on its coast we are to regard as the 

 emporium, I cannot on the data yet known decide. I incline to 

 think however, that the coast around ', and opposite to, Kalpitiya 

 formed the centre of trade, and that the emporium was not 

 one defined spot, but a cluster of petty ports all bartering the 

 luxuries of the Far East for silver, and the wares of Europe, 

 Persia, and Ethiopia ; while the site of Tammanna Nuwara with 

 the adjacent ruins of Maha-tabuwa was the Capital of the ruler 

 who governed under the Sultans of Zabedj. 



