No. 57. — 1906.] coconut cultivation. 



55 



do much to extend the cultivation of the coco palm beyond 

 what might be needed for the supply of their own families. 

 Indeed they had no object or special inducement to do so ; 

 for the produce could not be carried very far inland (in the 

 absence of roads) with the means of transport at their com- 

 mand, and there is no evidence to show that the nuts, oil, 

 or arrack were exported much before the end of the 15th 

 century. Still by this time we may take it for granted that 

 not only the people on the south-west coast from Kalutara 

 round to Dondra Head, but also many of the villagers farther 

 north and farther inland had begun to realize the value 

 of the coco palm. To Mudaliyar Simon de Silva, the learned 

 Chief Translator to Government, I am indebted for re- 

 ferences which bear out the view that coconut gardens had 

 been formed by this time in the Western Province even up 

 to the banks of the Kelani-ganga. I append in a note the 

 references given by the learned Mudaliyar to classical works 

 other than the Mahdwansa* A Chinese writer who 

 describes Ceylon about the year 1413 A.D. writes of " the 

 coconut which they have in abundance supplying them with 



oil, wine, sugar, and food."t It must have been about this 



• 



time that the enterprising Moormen who commanded all the 

 foreign commerce began to turn the coconut to account. At 

 first undoubtedly, being Mohammedans, they would have 

 nothing to do with arrack as an intoxicating spirit, and not 

 much was at the time known of the value of the oil, while 



* 1. In the 71st and 76th verses of the G-ira Sandesa, a poem written in 

 the 15th century, reference is made to coconut gardens in the Panadure 

 and Kalutara Districts. 



2. In the 107th verse of the Paravi Sandesa, written about the same 

 time, mention is made of a coconut garden beyond Balapitiya. 



3. In Kovul Sandesa references are made to coconut gardens in the 

 Southern Province. 



4. In the 42nd verse of the Selalihini Sandesa of Totagamuwa, who 

 flourished in the reign of Prakrama Bahu VI. (1415 to 1167 A.D.), refer- 

 ence is made to coconut trees growing on the bank of the Kelani-gpnga. 



f <; Ceylon Literary Register," vol. IV., 1889-1890, page 118. 



