NO. 37.— 1888.] INDUSTRIES OF CEYLON. 



359 



-was the part he was destined to fulfil, the plea of religion 

 may have served to give a favourable colour to his project in 

 the eyes of his followers. It will be remembered that 

 Gautama had previously paid several visits to Ceylon, and he 

 may probably have been inspired with the idea that his 

 doctrines might be propagated amongst the Yakhos without 

 encountering the opposition with which it had to contend in 

 India, where the Brahminical religion had become deeply 

 rooted. His prophecy respecting Wijayo's future rule over 

 the Island may have been intended to stimulate this hero to 

 fulfil a prediction which promised results so glorious to any 

 ambitious adventurer, and was, at any rate, one well calcu- 

 lated to ensure its own fulfilment. Whether these supposi- 

 tions are true or not, they supply a rational motive for the 

 adventure, which relieves it of the foolhardy and reckless 

 character it might, in the absence of such reason, assume. 

 Albeit history affords many examples, even in modern times, 

 of daring seizures of power by a few resolute leaders who, 

 favoured by the momentary weakness of the ruling powers, 

 and the supineness or pre-occupation of the people, have 

 succeeded in effecting great revolutions. Such, for example, 

 was the case in our own day, when Napoleon the Third 

 succeeded by means of a handful of Changarniers in 

 subverting the Republic of that day, and establishing himself 

 on the Imperial throne. 



Seeing then that Ceylon had in several distant parts, at the 

 period in question (543 B.C.), its own Yakho sovereigns, 

 capitals, and courts, characterised by a certain degree of 

 luxury and refinement, it must necessarily have also had a 

 large population, spread over a wide extent of the country, 

 for it has already been postulated that there could be no 

 potentates without a people. Equally certain is the inference 

 that the natural resources of the Island must have been 

 effectively utilised by labour, seeing that a people cannot 

 exist without industry, and that cities, courts, and luxury 

 could neither be originated nor maintained without an 

 amount of surplusage divertible from the pursuit of the 



85—90 D 



