18 



JOURNAL, R. A. S. ( CEYLON). 



[Vol. XIX. 



II. in the thirteenth century (chap. LXXXVL). Can we trust the 

 history securely enough to say that the coconut had certainly 

 been introduced as early as that, or shall we find from other 

 sources that it was introduced later and so convict the author 

 of the Mahawansa of writing from imagination ? I need scarcely 

 say that the historical as well as botanical accuracy of the 

 Mahawansa here and at a much earlier date, where it refers to 

 coconut palms, will be amply borne out in the Paper which is to 

 be brought under your notice later on this evening. 



Let me give the ordinary Member or reader an illustration from 

 an even later date, and of specially local interest, of the treasures 

 which will be found in our Journals. This is the account of 

 " Alakeswara : His Life and Times," by Advocate E. W. Perera, 

 published two years ago, full of romantic excitement and " news 

 of battle, '* of which the scenes, including invasions successively 

 by large armies of Tamils and Chinese, were chiefly laid in this 

 Western Province and in the vicinity of Kotte, which, it must 

 be remembered, was for over two centuries the seat of the Sinhalese 

 Government. What is told us there of battle fields (occupied 

 by Chinese, Tamils, and Sinhalese) and of historical sites, all in 

 or near a place only a few miles from Colombo, ought to stir the 

 most somnolent amongst us to take an interest in the chronicles 

 and monuments of the past. 



Sri-pada on " Adam's Peaky 



In this connection I must call attention to an interesting con- 

 clusion arrived at by the late Mr. Wm. Skeen in a full and evident- 

 ly carefully prepared Paper contributed by him to our Journal of 

 1870-71, in reference to the " Origin of the Sri-pada, or Sacred 

 Footprint on the Summit of Adam's Peak." In his book on 

 " Adam's Peak," with map and illustrations, published some time 

 before, Mr. Skeen concluded, from the information then before 

 him, " that the belief in the existence of the footprint was not of 

 an older date than a century and a half before the Christian era," 

 but he was doubtful if even it was as old. Subsequent investiga- 

 tions, in which Mr. Skeen was backed by such competent Oriental- 

 ists as the late J. Alwis, Mudaliyar L. de Zoysa, and Rev. C. Alwis, 

 convinced him that the origin of the belief must be dated several 

 centuries later. He found that nothing was known in Ceylon 

 about it before 302 a.d. ;' but that, about this time, Chinese 

 writers speak reverentially "of the sacred footmark impressed by 

 the first created man ; " and Mr. Skeen considers it by no means 

 improbable that this ancient tradition was grafted on to Buddhism 

 and attributed to Buddha at a later date. Any one interested 

 should read Mr. Skeen's paper and argument, to which, so far as 

 I know, no answer has been made. 



Buddhist Temples and Dagabas. 



Some, again, may like to know if the statement made by Sir J. F. 

 Dickson, when our President in 1884, is accepted as fact, that 

 not until a lapse of from 300 to 400 years after the death of Gau- 

 tama was there any temple to, or figure of, Buddha known. And . 



