42 



JOURNAL -R. A. S. CEYLON. 



[EXTRA NO, 



harried them, and would not eat or deal with them. But when 

 the adventure, which we have 'recounted in the first part of these 

 Voyages ( Tome II ,pp. 80, 81) had happened to the Shaikh Abou 

 ^Abd Allah, that is to say, the murder of all his companions by 

 the elephants, his own preservation, and the manner in which the 

 elephant carried him on its Tmck, from that time on the idolaters 

 have respected the Musalmans, have permitted them to enter 

 their houses and to eat with them.* They also place confidence 

 dn them, as regards their women &nd children. Even to this 

 *clay %hey venerate in the highest degree the above-named Shaikh, 

 and call Km 'the Great Shaikh.' 



Meam while we reached the town of Conacdr,^ the residence 



* " In this statement Tfen Batiita is fully borne otat by Robert Knox, who 

 says, speaking of the 'charity of the "Sinhalese, in his Chapter 4 concerning 

 their religious doctrines, opinions, and practices, 5 Part iii., Ch. 5, 1 Nor are 

 they charitable only to the poor of their own nation ; but, as I said, to others 

 and particularly to the Moorish beggars, who are Mahometans by religion ; 

 these have a temple in Kandy. A certain former King gave this temple this 

 privilege — that every freeholder should contribute a ponnam (fanam, lhd.) to it ; 

 and these Moors go to every house in the land to receive it [except in 

 Dolosbage]; and, if the house be shut, they have power to break it open, and 

 take of goods to the value of it. They come very confidently when they beg, 

 and say they come to fulfil the peoples' charity ; and the people do liberally re- 

 lieve them for charity's sake These Moors pilgrims have many pieces of 



land given to them by well disposed persons, out of charity, where they build 

 houses and live ; and this land becomes theirs from generation to generation for 

 ever.' " (Skeen, Adam's Peak, p. 285.)— B. 



f Conacdr — Dr. Lee identifies this place with Gampola, and he is followed 

 by Pridham and Tennent. According to Tumour's Epitome, Gampola did not 

 become the capital till after 1347, while Ibn Batuta is writing of the end of 

 1344. The Sinhalese monarchy was then in a very troublous condition, and 

 it is difficult to decide upon the locality of Conacdr. — [Skeen (Adam's Peak, 

 p. 286) hesitates between Gampola and Ratnapura, the place where gems are 

 chiefly found.] Col. Yule (Cathay, p. 423, Note) suggests that it was Kurun^gala. 



[Mr. L. Nell writes : — " Sir Emerson Tennent did not hesitate to identify 

 this Sovereign with Bhuwaneka Bahu IV., whose capital was Gangasripura, the 

 modern Gampola. This identification was based on the Chronological Table of 



