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JOURNAL, R.A.S. (CEYLON). [VOL. XIX. 



cement for building the Ruwanweli Dagaba (Mahdivansa r 

 chapter XXX., p. 169) * 



But the strange fact (remarks Tennent) is that notwith- 

 standing these and other very eariy references nothing 

 is said of the coconut as an article of food, nor is the 

 palm given in the list of fruit trees to be planted, before 

 1153 A.D., Prakrama I. {Mahdwansa, chapter LXXII.). 



But before we come to this date we have the passage 

 in chapter XLIL, first brought to light by the late Mr. 

 H. Nevill, CCS.,* which records how King Agrabodhi I. 

 about 589 a.d. caused "a coconut plantation of three yojanas 

 (about 36 English miles) in extent " to be formed, probably 

 between Dondra and Weligama, and so it is surmised 

 that his statue was cut out of the rock near the Weligama 

 Vihare as a memorial of the king who introduced coconut 

 planting into Ceylon. 



This is doubtless the very first record of the formation of a 

 regular coconutplantationinCeylon ; but that there musthave 

 been many palms growing before this time on the southern 

 coast, and more especially around the port of Galle,weknow 

 from independent authority. Even iElian, the Roman 

 Historian, so far back as the middle or end of the 2nd century 

 speaks of the sea coast of Ceylon as covered with palm trees 

 (possibly referring to palmyras in the North and coconuts 

 in the South). Chinese writers of the 5th century — when 

 Galle was a chief port for the exchange of trade between 

 East and West — mention " coconuts " and " arrack" (distilled 



* " Philalethes " (Dr. Root. Fellowes, M.A.) in his summary of Sinhalese 

 history has a curious statement, apparently from Valentyn, but not trace- 

 able in the Mahdwansa. It runs : " Muta Singa Raja (the Mutasiva of the 

 Mahdwansa, who reigned 60 years) planted in the wilderness a great grove 

 of coconut trees to which he gave the name of Mahamuna." In chapter 

 XI. of the Mahdwansa we are told the King Mutasiva formed the delightful 

 royal garden Mahamegha (so called because of an unseasonably heavy fall 

 of rain just as it was being laid out) which was provided in the utmost per- 

 fection with every requisite, and adorned with fruit- and flower-bearing 

 trees of every description ;" but no mention is made of coconut, nor indeed 

 is any fruit specified at all. 



